The relationship between self-esteem and

academic achievement
Table of contents

Serial No. Index Page

1 Abstract 3

2 Introduction 4

3 Method 5

4 Results 7

5 Descriptive Statistics 7

6 Correlation 8

7 Conclusion 9

10 References 10
Abstract
This research highlights the relationship between self-esteem and academic
achievement in undergraduate students. Most of the students that have high
achievement in academic seems to have high self-esteem and most probably know
their strengths and weaknesses. From the knowledge of their own strength and
weakness, they can plan well for their study and easily understand what they have
studied. Students with high self-esteem might also highly determined on their goals
which is an advantage for them to excel academically and can get a high score on
their final examination. A student with high self-esteem can be consistent with
originality in every task they have done and might as well be an attractive feature to
be noticed by their lecturer. Most important challenges for every student is time
management, and for sure that students that can’t manage their time well will be
struggling to catch up with their studies and affect their academic results. Having a
strong determination towards something might take someone to another level
because they will do the best to achieve something great or creating something new.
This might as well applied to high esteem student which is they will use their full
capabilities toward their academic and this will lead to great results or maybe better
with something new and creative. Self-esteem can be seen as related factor to
academic achievement and these studies will prove the relationship between
self-esteem and academic achievement.
Introduction

The formation of self-image in individuals starts in their babyhood and early childhood
periods through the verbal and non-verbal signals that they receive from their parents
who are the primary objects of connection (Demiriz and Öğretir 2007).Towards the
early childhood period, when the cognitive level is developed, the baby starts to
create his or her self-esteem by evaluating his or her physical properties, abilities,
strengths and weaknesses. Nine months old babies start to realize that they are
mentally different from each other, and they develop their verbal self when they are
eighteen months old. The progress of infants cognitive.

Student’s self-esteem nowadays has received increasing attention since it has been
one of the influential factors in student academic achievement. It has been declared
that students with high academic achievement is led by high self-esteem. The
self-esteem can be referred to as a person's global judgement of competency
regarding one’s self-worth. (Harter, 1988) When children compare their
self-evaluation, self-esteem emerges with actual performance on a variety of tasks.
The comparison between the perceived self and the ideal self is very crucial
especially during adolescence because adolescents encounter with diversified job of
developing and challenges of their own age. Hence, development of self-esteem is
considered as one of the most important developmental processes of adolescence.
(Sirin and Rogers-Sirin, 2004). ​Evidence for the reciprocal nature of self-esteem and
adolescent academic achievement has been found by some researchers, but findings
are not consistent across studies nor documented as well as the bi-directional
influence between domain specific self-concept and academic achievement.

Literature has shown that an important factor in rising academic achievement is

self-esteem. Studies on the relationship between self-esteem and overall school
achievement (Midget et al. 2002; El-Anzi2005; Wang 2012; Zuffiano et al. 2013),
studies on the relationship between self-esteem and achievement in mathematics
(Ciarrochi et al. 2007;;Bodkin-Andrews et al. 2010).
This research shows the study and results on the relationship between self-esteem
and academic achievement. Why academic achievement syncs with self-esteem and
how does it sync. Proving the existence of a relationship between self-esteem and
academic achievement of university students.
Literature Review
Several studies have highlighted the importance of self-esteem in language learning.
Most studies have shown a positive correlation between self-esteem and language
quality and achievement (Donnellan, Trześniewski, Robins, Moffitt, & Caspi,
2005;Hashemian, 2012;Heidari & Naseri, 2012;Vialle, Heaven, & Ciarrochi, 2005)​.
Much work has confirmed the hypothesis that high self-esteem is correlated with
educational achievement from various theoretical viewpoints (e.g. personal
correlation theory, symbolic communication theory). (Marsh, Byrne, and Yeung,
1999) that levels of ability that affect depressive symptoms and self-esteem levels
(Humphrey, Charlton, and Newton, 2004) and that a positive self-concept is desirable
for personal development of children (Branden, 1994).Nonetheless, a positive
self-esteem has been considered a desirable trait for students, and therefore studies
examining self-esteem measures also note the significant influence of teacher
arrangements (Helm 2007) and the school environment in the creation of a good
sense of self (Scott 1999). Some England research suggests gender differences, with
males having a closer relationship between self-esteem and educational success
with the exception of English language skills (Ireson, Hallam, and Plewis 2001).

Base on Meftah (2002) research entitled “The relationship between shyness and
self-esteem and academic achievement of secondary students in Tehran,''the
outcome is there’s a significant relationship between self-esteem and academic
achievement. The two variables of shyness and self-esteem, self-esteem can predict
academic achievement and self-esteem and there is no significant difference
between girls and boys.

Balouchi (2001) states that the father had no effect on academic achievement in a
study entitled “The Relationship between the presence and absence of parents on
academic achievement, discipline and self-esteem of students in the first year of
secondary education” on 200 students in ninth grade, which is randomly selected. He
also mentioned that, relation between school discipline bring to the conclusion that
the father has an impact on the discipline of the students. But, there is no significant
difference between boys and girls was observed. In relation to self-esteem, this study
showed that students who their fathers are present significantly higher self-esteem
than students who their fathers are not present. But the self-esteem of girls and boys
are statistically not significant.

Mir Ali Yari (2000) claimed that there is a significant relationship between academic
achievement and self-esteem in his research entitled “self-esteem and academic
achievement of boys and girls at third grade of high school math major“. The
hypothesis from the research showed a significant difference between gender and
self-esteem with academic achievement. The hypothesis was confirmed with
probability of 99%.

Based from a thesis entitled “Study of characteristics of adolescents and its

relationship with academic success.” (FathiAshtiani, 1998). This research is
conducted among high school students on a sample of 1314 people from training
centre in Tehran, founded that self-concept is associated with self-esteem, and these
two factors have a positive impact on increasing the level of academic success. He
also found a negative relationship between self-concept, and self-esteem and
depression that leads to a decrease in academic performance.

Barat Vand (1997) in his master’s thesis entitled “Study of Relationship between
simple and multivariate of acceptance and self-esteem and academic achievement
and personal and social adjustment at male students in third grade of secondary
school in Ahvaz city.” founded that there is a positive relationship between academic
achievement and self-esteem and also it was a combination of two variables group
acceptance and self-esteem to be able to explain more of the variation in academic
achievement.

From a study to examine the relationship among achievement motivation,

self-esteem, and locus of control and academic performance. Abdullah (2000) has
conducted research in the field within university students in a Nigerian University.
The objective of the research was to determine the extent university student's
academic performance was influenced by these criterion variables. One thousand,
three hundred and thirty-five male and female university students from seven
faculties participated in the study. They were selected by stratified cum simple
random sampling techniques. Results from the research revealed that clearly the
subjective independent variables did not predict objective measure of the students’
academic performance. Psycho-sociological evidence abounds that lack of
achievement motivation and low self-esteem, creates in students lack in interest to
strive for high academic performances, and zeal to contribute positively and
efficiently to national development.

By using mixed methodology, a research that investigates the relationship between

self-esteem and academic achievement for young adolescents within two Western
cultural contexts which is the United States and England. Quantitative and qualitative
data from 86 North American and 86 British adolescents were used to examine the
links between self-esteem and academic achievement from the beginning to the end
of their academic year during their 11th–12th year of age. Both samples, quantitative
results demonstrated that fall self-esteem was related to multiple indicators of later
year academic achievement. While differences within emerge by the end of the year,
math appears to have a consistent relationship with self-esteem in both country
contexts. Qualitative analyses found some support for British students’
self-perceptions as more accurately reflecting their academic experience than the
students from the United States (Booth & Gerard, 2011).

Research design
In order to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and academic
achievement, data was needed about the amount of self-esteem among students and
the academic achievement of these same students. Quantitative method, in the form
of a survey, was used in this study to measure this data. The decision to use a
quantitative method was based on the kind of data that was needed for this study.
Both self-esteem and academic achievement could be measured in numerical values
through a survey. This numerical data could then be analyzed to assess the
relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement.

Study population

The study population consisted of undergraduate students from the Faculty of

Economics and Management and the Faculty of Human Ecology Universiti Putra
Malaysia.

Data collection

For the data collection, an online survey was used. This survey was made with the
program Qualtrics. The survey consisted of two parts, the academic achievement of
the student and the student’s self-esteem. To measure the academic achievement,
the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) was asked through an open question.
In the second part, the student’s self-esteem was measured using The Rosenberg
Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). This scale measures global self-worth by measuring both
positive and negative feelings about the self. The RSES consists of ten questions
about the feelings of a person, with items answered on a four-point scale from
strongly agree to strongly disagree. Points are given to the different answers:
‘Strongly disagree’ 1 point, ‘Disagree’ 2 points, ‘Agree’ 3 points and ‘Strongly agree’
4 points. Questions 2,5,6,8 and 9 are reverse scored. With these points a total score
is calculated. This score ranges from 0 till 30, where a score less than 15 may
indicate a problematic low self-esteem.
This survey was distributed among the students of the Faculty of Human Ecology and
other faculties through an online link. 31 students responded to the survey.
Data analysis

The program SPSS Statistics was used for the analysis. First, the variables were
checked on missing data. When there were respondents who forgot to fill in a
question or answered an impossible answer, these data were deleted from the
dataset. Then the student’s total score on the RSES was calculated in SPSS by
making a new variable. After that, the Pearson Correlation was used to correlate the
relationship between the independent variable self-esteem and the dependent
variable CGPA.
Results
In order to assess the relationship between self esteem and student achievement in
the study population, a survey was used with questions about CGPA and level of self
esteem. The results of the survey were analyzed through SPSS. Pearson correlation
coefficient was used to measure the statistical relationship between the two
variables.

Originally 31 students responded to the survey. The answers of three of these

students were not complete, so the data of these students was not included in the
analysis of the survey. Because of this the final response to the survey was 28
students.

Descriptive statistics

The first question in the survey was about the CGPA of the students. The mean
CGPA was 3,47 with a standard deviation of 0,30. This data is shown in table..

The next questions in the survey were based on the RSES. From these 10 questions
about the self-esteem of the students a total score was calculated in SPSS. The
mean total score was 22,61 with a standard deviation of 3,67. This data is shown in
table..
Correlation

Before looking at the Pearson correlation, a scatter plot was made to determine if
there was a linear relationship between the two variables. This scatter plot is shown
in figure ….

The scatterplot shows that there is only a minimal negative linear relationship
between the variables total score of RSES and CGPA.

The Pearson correlation test was applied on the data in SPSS. It showed a
correlation coefficient of -0,082. This shows a minimal negative correlation. The
significance of the correlation is 0,68, which indicates that there is no significant
relationship between self-esteem and CGPA. This data is shown in table…
Discussion
The findings indicate that there is no significant relationship between students'
self-esteem and their CGPA. The findings also indicate that there is only a minimal
linear relationship between these two variables. This means that based on the
findings of this research self-esteem and academic achievement are not significantly
related.

in line with previous research or different? ​Do the results agree with previous
research? If so, what do they add to it? Are the findings very different from other
studies? If so, why might this be? Do the results confirm or challenge existing
theories?

It should be mentioned that the research conducted has some possible limitations.
The first possible limitation is the size of the study population. The study population
only consisted of 28 students and this might have influenced the statistical test,
because these tests generally require larger sample sizes to test for statistical
relationships. Another possible limitation is the use of self reported data to measure
the self-esteem of the students. This data is limited by the fact that it can not be
verified and that you have to take what the respondents say.

Further studies should take into account the possible effect of a small study
population and try to identify the relationship between self-esteem and academic
achievement using larger sample sizes.
Conclusion

References
Abdullah, O. E. (2000). Relationship Among Achievement Motivation, Self-Esteem, Locus of Control
and Academic Performance of Nigerian. The Nigerian Journal Of Guidance And Counselling Vol. 7 (1):
pp. 130-141

Balouchi. (2001). Investigate the relationship between the presence and absence of parents on
academic achievement, discipline and self-esteem of high school students, Master’s Thesis.

Barat Vand. (1997). Simple and multivariate relationship between acceptance and self-esteem and
academic achievement and personal and social adjustment grade male students in Ahvaz city,
master’s thesis.

Booth, M.Z. & Gerard, J.M. (2011). Self-esteem and academic achievement: a comparative study of
adolescent students in England and the United States. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3779915/

Branden N. Six. (1994). Pillars of self-esteem. New York: Bantam.

FathiAshtiani. (1998). Investigate the characteristics of adolescents and its relationship to academic
success, master’s thesis.

Humphrey N, Charlton JP, Newton I. (2004). The developmental roots of disaffection? Educational
Psychology.

Helm C. (2007). Teacher dispositions affecting self-esteem and student performance. Clearing House.

Ireson J, Hallam S, Plewis I. (2001). Ability grouping in secondary schools: Effects on pupils’
self-concepts. British Journal of Educational Psychology.

Meftah. (2002). ​The relationship between shyness and self-esteem and academic achievement of
secondary students in Tehran,​ Master’s Thesis.

Mir Ali Yari. (2000). ​Self-esteem and academic achievement of girls and boys in third grade
mathematics new system,​ master’s thesis.

Mohammad Aryana. (2010). Relationship Between Self-esteem and Academic Achievement Amongst
Pre-University Students. Journal of Applied Sciences.

Rosenberg M. (1989). Society and the adolescent self-image. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University
Press.
Scott CG. (1999). Modeling self-esteem: The potential impact of school personnel on students.
Professional School Counseling.

Vialle, Wilma & Heaven, P. & Ciarrochi, Joseph. (2005). The relationship between self-esteem and
academic achievement in high ability students: Evidence from the Wollongong Youth Study.
Australasian Journal of Gifted Education.