Relationship Between Self-esteem and Academic Achievement Amongst Pre-University Students

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data collection: The population of the current study included all boys and girls attended at pre-university centers of Qaemshahr in 2008-2009 education years. Based on the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table, 100 students selected as a sample size in this study. The random sampling was utilized for this study. By using a table of random numbers, 50 male and 50 female were chosen for the current research.

Measures: The Coopersmith’s standardized questionnaire of self-esteem was utilized which involved 30 questions and each question ranged from 1 (low self-esteem) to 5 (high self-esteem) based on the Likert Scale. Total self-esteem scores range from 30 to 150 (Coopersmith, 1967). The questions were scored in the following way: firstly, the items 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 18, 24, 25, 27, 29 and 30 were coded from 5 to 1; however, it has been given the opposite rates from 1 to 5 for the rest of the questions. Secondly, all the grades were added in order to obtain a total grade as a self-esteem score. Additionally, for the purposes of this study, Academic achievement was measured based on the students’ total score on all subjects which taken in their current and previous semesters. Higher scores showed that the students performed well academically.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Hypothesis testing: The first hypothesis stated that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement. Pearson correlation performed to determine if the relationship was statistically significant. As it has been shown in Table 1, there was positive relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement (p<0.01) and as a consequence, H₁ was supported. In other words, significant findings revealed that students' level of self-esteem was a significant determinant in their academic achievement. If students develop higher levels of self-esteem, they would exhibit higher academic achievement.

The second hypothesis concerned whether there is significant differences in the level of academic achievement between boys and girls. To test this hypothesis, independent samples t-test was employed. As it has been shown in Table 2, Levene’s test which is related to the assumption of equality of variance was met. Additionally the significant differences were found in the level of academic achievement between boys and girls.

The last hypothesis considered whether there significant difference existed in the levels of self-esteem between boys and girls. To test this hypothesis, independent samples t-test was employed. As it has been shown in Table 3, no significant difference was found in the level of self-esteem between boys and girls.

The current study demonstrated that there is significant relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in students and this result is correspondent with the research results of Fathi-Ashtiani et al. (2007). Furthermore the finding is consistent with Walter (2003) who indicated that a positive sense of self esteem has been related to the academic achievement. On the other hand, our results has been supported by Bray (2001) who assessed the influence of academic achievement on self-esteem amongst 64 college students at Missouri Western State University.

Table 1:	Correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement

Table 2:	The difference in academic achievement between girls and boys

Table 3:	The difference in self-esteem between girls and boys

The results revealed that those students who get higher grades tends to develop higher levesl of self-esteem. Additionally, the results supported the findings of Wiggins and Schatz (1994) who found that increases in self-esteem are positively correlated with increases in academic achievement. They exhibited that students’ grade point averages boost when they acquired more points on a self-esteem questionnaire. Similarly, the other study demonstrated that experiencing success or failure consistently is extremely important as it affects one’s self-esteem and self-concept (Kifer, 1973).

In contradiction with our results, recent studies have shown that the association between these two variables was modest (Pullmann and Allikk, 2008; Nagar et al., 2008). Moreover, an earlier meta-analysis indicated a modest relation of 0.08 between self-esteem and academic achievement (Valentine et al., 2004).

The current study also found that there is not significant difference in the level of self-esteem between boys and girls. However, the significant difference found for academic achievement between male and female students. Academic motivation may be the cause of the difference in academic achievement. This is consistent with previous research which found that gender difference was significant when the influence of motivation on academic achievement was evaluated in male and female students (Tella, 2007). Hence, it can be said that self-esteem of students play an important role in determining their academic achievement. But the differences in academic achievement can be rooted from their motivation instead of their self-esteem between girls and boys.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH

It could be concluded that school authorities especially counselors and teachers should be aware of the link between self-esteem and academic achievement in students. When the students understand that their failures are a result of effort rather than ability, they will probably exhibit a greater persistence to overcome their failures rather than developing an attitude of helplessness. Teachers must be trained about the strategies which are related to the self-esteem building and have to observe students and their interactions with peers carefully to meet the needs of them.

Additional research needs to be conducted to confirm these findings and to investigate whether they have any implications for working with Iranian students to improve their academic performance. Finally, practical research needs to be done to develop and assess programs for counselors, teachers and school administrators to use on an individual, in the classroom and on institutional leve respectively.