Self-Esteem and Scholarly Accomplishment amongst Undergraduate Students

Owais Ahmad* and Shamsa Siddiq

Department of Psychology, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan

*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to find the relationship between self-esteem and academic accomplishment. We investigated if self-esteem plays a role in the academic achievement of students. Second, we investigate the effect of permanent residence, whether rural or urban, on the development of self-esteem. Furthermore, we checked whether economic status plays any role in developing self-esteem or not. For this, we collected data from 400 students of a public university in Islamabad, Pakistan. We collected data from men using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. After data collection, it was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Through the Pearson correlation, data revealed a significant positive relationship between self-esteem and the academic performance of students. However, this association was weak. This proves that high self-esteem helps students in achieving higher grades and vice versa. In the second hypothesis, researchers revealed a positive relationship between self-esteem and family monthly income that was deemed non-significant. To analyze the third hypothesis researchers checked whether self-esteem is high in rural students or in urban ones. However, he found that the area of belonging does not play any part in the self-esteem of students. Results came out non-significant here as well (p > .05 which was = .545). The current study is effective for students, parents and teachers because they will know after studying this article that academic performance is not a single variable that does not have any link with other variables. They will find out from the study that if we want high academic performance from students or children, we need to work on their self-esteem which would directly affect their academic performance.

Keywords: academic performance, self-esteem, socioeconomic status, undergraduate students

Introduction

The improvement of educational status permits university officials to look forward to tactics to enhance university achievement. Educational success has been one of the biggest concerns of any scholastic structure. Educational success signifies the accomplishment of the scholastic structure in guiding and addressing personal demands. It entails acquired or learned skills of a person in academic disciplines and is assessed using regular inspections or exams by the educator. Generally, this term means the amount of personal academic knowledge (Jirdehi et al., 2018).

In addition to this, self-esteem is an important construct in achieving daily goals and higher grades in academic institutions. Keeping this in mind the school authorities must start working on this psychological prospect to promote high achievements among students (Guban-Caisido, 2020).

According to the literature review, results were contradictory to each other. Research reports a strong positive correlation between self-esteem and academic performance and men have greater self-esteem as compared to women. However, female students showed higher academic performance than their counterparts (Arshad et al., 2015).

Studies by Rosli et al. (2012) revealed a positive correlation between academic accomplishment and the self-esteem of students. His study showed that pupils who scored greater on the self-esteem scale had greater academic success as well and vice versa.

Filippello et al. (2013) and Haq (2016) also reported a positive correlation between self-esteem and academic accomplishment. Their studies stated that pupils who scored greater on the self-esteem scale had high academic performances and vice versa. Haq (2016)’s study also reveals that the self-esteem of rural students was lower than that of urban and further stated that self-esteem among men was higher than that of women. Moreover, Rahmani (2011) study stated that girls showed more avoidance acts and boys showed more performing styles, but no variations were observed in mastery results. Research by Alves-Martins et al. (2002) showed that educational success has the foremost impact on self-esteem. Further, he stated that in the 7^th class, there are variations in the middle of self-esteem adored by students with higher levels than those with low levels of accomplishment, but these differences diminish in the 8^th and 9^th classes. His results indicated that academic success influences self-esteem among earlier adults.

Furthermore, it has been shown that students with higher self-esteem are better able to learn a foreign language. Guban-Caisido (2020) backs up the assertion, arguing that self-esteem has a strong, positive association with second/foreign language competency in her research. Students with higher self-esteem are more interested in their language study and activities.

Utami and Wahyudin (2022)'s research showed a modest relationship between the two variables, suggesting that students' self-esteem did influence their English Proficiency Test. Students with higher self-esteem are more likely to achieve higher grades since they will believe in themselves when answering questions.

Moreover, the study of Hosseini et al. (2016) stated that self-esteem is influenced by communication, individuals having greater self-esteem consider themselves extra pleasant, gorgeous and precious. They appreciate interaction with others and establish close relationships with them. Further, this study showed that the greater the self-esteem amongst students the smaller their faith in the impact of risk on life and education as an element of life. They were extra reliant on their inner proficiencies and their educational growth improved as an outcome. Another finding of this research was a greater level of self-esteem among women.

Schmidt and Padilla (2003) in his study stated that family change plays a vital part in academic accomplishment, extra-curricular activities involvement in teenagers and the development of self-esteem. Furthermore, the study by Alam (2013) revealed that test anxiety is strongly negatively related to academic achievement. Academic performance can be improved by improving self-efficacy and self-esteem (Raskauskas et al., 2015). 

The study of Peixoto and Almeida (2010) revealed no significant differences among self-esteem, academic achievement, gender, and grade. Further, it is claimed that accepting adverse attitudes about school is not sufficient to sustain positive self-esteem in students with records of educational failures.

Furthermore, the study by Zheng et al. (2020) reported that self-esteem is associated with academic achievement. Study reported that student with higher self-esteem (general and academic) showed improved academic grades. A study by Sahranavard and Hassan (2012) stated no meaningful association between self-esteem and academic accomplishment. In addition,  findings of Akinleke (2012)’s study revealed that less worried students achieved higher grades than more worried students; this relation was weak but significant.

The study by Neroni et al.(2022) reported that none of the academic success characteristics uniquely predicted by academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, or perseverance of effort. Furthermore, neither academic self-efficacy nor self-esteem played a mediatory role between constancy of interests and exam attempts or study progress.

The conclusions of Iniama (2004) also stated no meaningful correlation between the middle of college GPA and self-esteem. However, the findings of Nagar et al., (2008) revealed that self-esteem is more likely to be an outcome than the source of academic accomplishment. Further, the study showed a positive correlation between self-esteem, family style, and education of girls. However, the study of Naderi et al. (2009) indicated significant gender differences in self-esteem.

Objective

To find the impact of self-esteem on students’ educational accomplishment.

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested in this study.

1. There is a positive correlation between self-esteem and academic performance.
2. There is a positive correlation between self-esteem and socioeconomic status.
3. Self-esteem will be high among rural students than those of urban.

Method

Research Design

The researchers used a quantitative approach and used a cross-sectional survey research design to conduct this research.

Sample

For conducting the study, researchers used a convenient selection method. The researchers collected data from both rural and urban students. The number of participants was determined by using Taro Yemeni’s formula for sample size. As the total estimated population of the university is 30,000 the formula yields a sample size (n=394). Taro Yemeni’s formula ► n = N/1+N (e) ^2 where n= corrected sample size, N= total population, and e= margin of error. Hence sample size of the study was 400 (N=400, Rural=244, Urban=156).

Inclusion Criteria

Students currently enrolled in the International Islamic University Islamabad were included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria

The following students were excluded who were: Women, newly enrolled (because the researchers need the CGPA of university students for comparison with self-esteem), Post-graduate students, and students enrolled in schools, colleges, and universities other than International Islamic University Islamabad.

Instruments

Demographic Sheet

Demographic data form comprising basic news about the applicant’s biopsychosocial aspects (Age, faculty, department, etc.). However, in this study demographic sheet contained socioeconomic status, permanent area of living, and cumulative grade point average (CGPA). This is because the researcher aimed to find the connection between socioeconomic standing and self-esteem and to compare the level of self-esteem between rural or urban students. CGPA was mentioned in demographics as well because the researcher aimed to associate it with other study variables.

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

The researcher used the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) to measure the self-esteem of the participants. It is a 10-items scale that measures universal self-worth by gauging both positive and negative approaches to self.  This scale is supposed to be uni-dimensional.  All items are responded to using a four-point Likert scale that is marked from 1= Strongly agree to 4= Strongly disagree. Its five items (2, 5, 6, 8, and 9) are also reverse coded. Total score is obtained by adding scores for individual items and and higher indicate higher self-esteem. The alpha reliability of this scale is 0.82.

Ethical Considerations

The study participants were explained with the study purposes and their rights as participation. They were requested to sign an informed consent before their inclusion in the study to ensure voluntary participation.

Procedure

For conducting the study, the researcher collected data from the sample through a questionnaire whose demographic sheet contained permanent residence, socioeconomic status, CGPA, and other relevant demographic variables like age, department, enrolled semester, etc. The name was not asked due to confidentiality. Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale was used in collecting information from participants regarding their self-esteem.

After the collection of data, the questionnaires were checked; incomplete and inappropriate questionnaires were excluded. Complete and carefully filled questionnaires were included in the analysis. After this step, all the data was entered into SPSS software version 23. An Independent t-test was applied to data for comparing the mean score of both rural and urban participants, comparison of CGPA with self-esteem mean score and socioeconomic status with self-esteem mean score was analyzed through Pearson correlation. The correlation finds that there is strong, modest, or weak positive or negative relation among self-esteem, CGP, and socioeconomic status. After the findings, we drew tables for the variables and wrote results regarding our hypotheses whether our hypotheses are accepted or rejected, and among our three hypotheses which one is accepted, and which is rejected?

He wrote down the conclusion of the study in the end and provided limitations regarding our study so that the knowledge gap is easy to find for upcoming researchers or further studies. At the end of the study, we provided references of the papers, books, newspapers, videos, etc. which we studied during the literature review or during this study.

Results

Table 1

Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Participants (N=400)

Table 1 demonstrated the socio-demographic properties of participants (N=400). All participants were men and among them, rural students were (n = 244) having 61% and urban were (n = 156) having 39%. The mean and standard deviation of age, Family monthly income, and CGPA were M=22.39, SD=2.20; M=77584.50, SD=106860.85, and M=3.26, SD=.36.

Table 2

Psychometric Properties of the Study Scale (N=400)

Note. RSES = Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

Table 2 demonstrated the Psychometric properties of the study scale. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability of the study scale was adequate (α = .65). Skewness and Kurtosis were within the range of ±2 and ±7 which fulfills the assumptions for parametric tests.

Table 3

Pearson Correlation between Self-Esteem, CGPA, FMI and Age (N=400)

Note. SEST = Self-Esteem Scale Total, CGPA = Cumulative Grade Point Average, FMI = Family monthly income.

The Pearson correlation showed that relationship between Self-esteem and CGPA was positive but statistically significant at 2-tailed (r = .178, p < .001). Moreover, between Self-esteem and family monthly income, the association was positive, however, remained non-significant(r = .025, p = .61). Furthermore, relationship between Self-esteem and Age remained positive but statistically non-significant (r = .036, p > .05, p = .47).

Table 4

Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-values along AOB on RSES (N= 400)

Note. RSES =Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, AOB =Area of Baseline.

An independent sample t-test indicated that the mean self-esteem scores was higher for urban students (M = 29.22, SD = 3.43) than rural students (M = 28.98, SD = 4.08), t(398) = -.605 p >.05, but the difference was  not significant. The outcomes revealed that self-esteem has no significant association with area of belonging.

Discussion

It is identically vital to wage interest in learning from cultural and educational facets. To attain these aims and expand the excellence of learning, pupils’ scholarly accomplishment is the foremost goal of educational agendas and among the central worries of professors, academic world experts, and pupils’ family tree (Jirdehi et al., 2018).

Further, the researcher was of the view that self-esteem has a positive relationship with family monthly income. We predicted that those students whose family monthly income is high would score high on the self-esteem scale, but our expectations didn’t fulfill. . Our study observed no significant relationship concerning self-esteem and family monthly income.

Through our third hypothesis we proposed that self-esteem would be higher among students who belong to the rural area than their counterparts from urban areas. This hypothesis was based on many assumptions such as in rural areas a joint family system is one of the major key factors that enables family members to attend to or support the children in the family. In addition, people belonging rural areas are more socially supportive towards each other such as at the events of weddings and funerals. Despite these facts, we found out that the area of belonging does not play any role in enhancing the self-esteem of the students. Moreover, research also reports that self-esteem is higher among urban students than the rural ones (Haq, 2016).

Conclusion

One of the major findings of this study is a significant positive connection between self-esteem and abstract performance. This shows that both these variables are linked positively to each other, if one increases the other will increase, and vice versa. Some associations observed in the study are non-significant i.e., association of self-esteem of the students with age, family monthly income and area of belonging.  These findings suggest that higher self-esteem is linked with higher grades. Therefore, a focus on enhancing self-esteem can be beneficial to improve the grades of the students.

Limitations

There are some limitations in the study which are given below. Data was collected only from undergraduate students who were all men. In addition, the study only represented the students of the International Islamic University Islamabad. So, there is a high chance that data could be biased and cannot be generalized.

Suggestions and Recommendations

Suggestions for future research are to include both genders (men and women) from different government and private universities to increase the generalizability of the findings. In addition, scores of undergraduate and post-graduate students can be compared to examine the influence of higher education on the self-esteem of the students.

Implications

The findings of this study are fruitful for teachers, students, and especially for parents as e found a significant relationship between self-esteem and academic performance. These findings encourage parents to come up with strategies that foster self-esteem among children. The study guides parents to treat their children in a respectful manner instead of comparing them with other children. The study established that parenting practices have an impact on the self-esteem of the students. Therefore, through this study, parents get to know that a supportive attitude towards children would foster their children’s self-esteem and motivate them to pursue higher grades.

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