VOL. NO. 6 SEP.

JOURNAL OF THE INSTlTUTE. OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

S e l f- E s t e e m a n d A c a d e m i c A c h i e v e m e n t : Study on: Ninth Grade Students

NO. 3 1982

A

* IMMANUEL THOMAS & Dr. H. SAM SANANDA RAJ UNIVERSITY OF KERALA, KARIAVATTOM.

The present investigation aims at determining the extent of relation between scores on self-esteem and academic achievement A proportionate stratified sample of 370 ninth grade students (196 boys and 174 girls) has been used for the study. Statistical techniques like Pearson r and t -test have been used for analysing the data. The results indicated that there is significant positive correlation between the variables under study (r = +0.32, significant at .01 level). The study further revealed that high achievers (N1 = 58) differ significantly from low achievers (N2 = 55) in self-esteem at .01 level (CR = 7.27)

INTRODUCTION Self-esteem as an important non-cognitive factor that effects human behaviour has been widely recognized today. Studies are extensively undertaken in different parts of the world in order to find the extent of relation between various aspects of one's behaviour and the phenomenological world of one's own self-perception. Many researchers-have come out with conclusive proof to show that a person's customary self-evaluations play a critical role in determining his performance level. Fleming and Watts (1980) points out that the developmental and motivational aspects of self-esteem are integral parts of psychological research, particularly in th e area of academic performance.

A large number of investigations have been conducted on various aspects relating to selfesteem, but studies intended to find the amount of association between self-esteem and achievement are very few. Some of the relevant studies are reviewed here briefly. Coppersmith and his associates (1967) have shown in their studies that youngsters with a high degree of self-esteem tend to be successful academically. Bachman and O'Malley (1979) have reported fairly strong correla tions between self-esteem and educational achievement during high school level. But they could not find such a relationship at later stages of development. The study by O'Malley and Bachman (1979) was a partial

*Mr. IMMANUEL THOMAS is Research Scholar in the Department of Psychology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom. Dr. H. SAM SANANDA RAJ is Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom.

SELF-ESTEEM AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

replication of their earlier study in which they obtained similar results. Fleming and Watts (1980), in a factor analytical study on a sample of college sophomores have found three factors labelled social confidence, school abilities, and self -regard which comprise a general measure of self-esteem. The factor of school abilities showed a positive correlation which academic achievement as predicted, through the coefficient did not reach an acceptable level of significance (significant at ten per cent level). In a review of literature conducted in 1961, Wylie has found support for a generally positive relationship between self-esteem and other aspects including prestige, upward mobility and achievement. However, in her recent review of a much larger number of studies, she could not reveal a cle ar and strong pattern of positive associations between self-esteem and academic achievement (cited in Bachman and O'Malley, 1977). She examines 26 studies in the recent review. Of the 16 studies which she found methodologically defensible, only 10 showed at least one significant positive association, but even these were typically small. The equivocal findings suggest that more studies arc required in this area before reliable generalizations could be made. The present investigation is undertaken with a view to study the nature of the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement on a Kerala sample. HYPOTHESES The hypotheses formulated for the study have been presented below : (1) The correlation between academic achievement and self-esteem will be positive and significant.

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(2) High achievers differ significantly from low achievers in self-esteem. METHOD SAMPLE :

The subjects for the study comprised of 370 ninth grade pupils (196 boys and 174 girls) studying in various schools in Trivandrum educational district of Kerala state. While selecting this sample, adequate representation has been given to aspects like locals (rural/urban) and type of management (government / private) of school. Representation has also been given to boys' school, girls ' school and co-education school. The age of the subjects is 13+. The break-up of the sample is presented in Table I. TABLE I Break-up of the Sample for the Study Group

Urban School Govt.

Boys Girls Total

46 43 89

Rural School

Private Govt. 45 47 92 181

Total

Private

49 45 94

56 39 95

196 174 370

189

VARIABLES :

The variables studied in the investigation are: (1) self-esteem and (2) Academic achievement. (1) Self-esteem: A 25 item self-esteem inventory developed by the present authors (Thomas and Sanandaraj, 1981) has been used for measuring the level of self-esteem of the subjects. Three popular self-esteem scales are considered for the development of the inventory, viz., the Coopersmith SEI

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IMMANUEL THOMAS & DR. H. SAM SANANDA

(Coopers mith, 1967), the Janis and Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis and Field. 1959) and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Some of the items in the present instrument are either adopted or modified from the above scales, wh ile others are newly developed. All the items included in the scale have high discriminative power, as evidenced by item analysis of the draft scale consisting of 50 items. The details of reliability and validity of the inventtory are as follows : The split-half reliability co-efficient obtained on a sample of 100 subjects is + 0 95 (after correction using spearman - Brown formula). As far as validity is concerned, it is to be noted that the inventory claims construct validity as it has been modelled after well-known inventories meant for measuring self -esteem.

has been taken as the cut of point for select ing the high achievers. Those getting scores above M + I SD formed the High Achieving (HA) Group. Similarly, mean minus one Standard deviation (M - 1 SD) is taken as the cut-off point for selecting the low achie vers. Those getting scores below M - 1 SD formed the Low Achieving (LA) Group.

(2) Academic Achievement: The overall marks obtained by the students for the various school subjects in the class examination are collected from school records. These scores have been converted in to T scores and used as indices for academic achievement.

TABLE II

Significance of the difference between the HA and LA groups has been estimated for the variable self-esteem using t-test for large independent samples (Garrett, 1969). ANALYSIS Preliminary Analysis : The details of preliminary analysis of the scores on achievement and self-esteem are presented in Table II. '

Preliminary Analysis of Scores on Achievement and Self -esteem Variable N Mean Median SD SK Achievement Self-esteem

370 370

50.07 85.05

50 84

6.20 + .02 11.73 + .27

STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES :

The major statistical devices used are: (a) Pearsons and (2) t-test, as detailed below : (1 The extent of relation between selfesteem and academic achievement has been obtained on the whole sample using Pearson r (Garrett, 1969). The significance of the correlation co-efficient is determined, (2) Two extreme groups of subjects have been selected from the sample, on the basis of achievement scores obtained by subjects. Means plus one standard deviation (M+1 SD)

The mean achievement scores (converted to T scores) obtained by the subjects (N = 370) was 50.07, with an SD of 9.20. The selfesteem scores had a mean of 85.05 a n d an SD of 11.73 (N = 370). The achievement scores had a skewness of + .02 and selfesteem scores + .27. These values being close to zero, the distribution may be presumed to be normal (Garrett, 1969). Pearson r A correlational analysis of the self-esteem and achievement scores was carried out using

SELF-ESTEEM AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Pearson's formula. The co -efficient obtained is + .32 (N = 370), which is significant at .01 level. The value of this co-efficient indicates that positive but low correlation exists between achievement and self-esteem. The correlation co-efficient further indicates that about 10.3 per cent of the variance of one of the variables is determined by that of the other variable. The result thus gives evidence to support the hypothesis that the correlation between academic achievement and self-esteem will be positive and significant. The t - test Based on achievement scores two extreme groups, viz., high -achieving and low achiev ing" (HA and LA) groups, have been selected as mentioned earlier. The cut-off points of scores are M + 1 SD = 59.27 for the HA group and M - 1 SD = 40 87 for the LA group, Those getting scores above the cutoff point (i.e., 60 or above) are selected for the HA group and those getting scores below the cut-off point (i.e., 40 or below) are selected for the LA group. The HA group con sisted of 58 subjects. They had a mean selfesteem score of 92 with an SD of 1 1 , 1 1 . There were 55 subjects in the LA group. Their mean score in self-esteem was 78.6 with a SD of 8 35. The difference between the mean scores was tested for significance. A critical ratio of 7.27 was obtained (significant at .01 level) {vide Table III). TABLE

III

Sample size, Mean, and SD on Self-esteem Scores Obtained by High and Low Achieving groups with CR GROUP

N

MEAN

SD.

HA Group

58

92.00

11.1.1

LA Group

55

78.60

8.35

CR. 7.27

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The results of t-test shows that the high achieving and low achieving subjects are significantly different in their level of self esteem. Thus, the hypothesis formulated for the study in this connection, is accepted. Low self-esteem tend to be associated with poor academic performance while high selfesteem tend to be associated with high academic performance. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS The results of the study are similar to those obtained by many other researchers (e.g., Coopersmith 1967, Bachman 1970). But it may be pointed out that one should be very cautious in interpreting these results. Even though the high and low achievers are effectively differentiated with regard to their self-esteem, the causal efficacy of these two variables to each other is not immediately evident from the results. As pointed out by Bachman and O'Malley (1977), " there are several reasons for expecting that self-esteem will be positively linked to educational and occupational attainments. Indeed, we can identify three logically distinct pat terns of causation, each of which may play some part in producing a positive correlation between self-esteem (A) and attainment (B)". The authors then goes on to explain these three ways as ( 1 ) A causing B (2) B causing A and (3) a third variable C (an antecedent variable) which may cause both A and B. It may be noted here that there is good theoretical support for expecting a causative influence of self-esteem on the performance level (academic achievement of the students ). The humanistic psychologists have effectively brought forth the importance of self-evalua tion and self-acceptance in the behaviour of

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IMMANUEL THOMAS & DR. H. SAM SANANDA RAJ

human subjects (Maslow, 1954). Experiments by Coopersmith (1968) reveal that subjects with a high self-esteem score tend to have higher levels of aspiration and higher ambitions compared to subjects with lower selfestee m scores. The present study points to certain important implications for the educationists and guidance workers. The results unequivocally brings out the fact that non-cognitive personality variables like self-esteem may have an effect on one's cognitiv e functioning also. As non-cognitive personality variables are learned traits, it is liable to modification easily when compared to cognitive variables, Hence emphasis should be given to develop ing a positive attitude towards one's own self from childhood itself. Full utilization of one's own potentialities may be theoretically expected to be related to one's having a favourable and conducive self-attitude, which helps one to have a higher level of aspiration. The extent of relation between self-esteem a n d achievement revealed by the present study may be taken to give support for this view. REFERENCES BACHMAN, J. G. : Youth in Transition II; The impact of family background and intelligence on tenth grade boys, Ann Arbor: The Institute for Social Research, 1970.

BACHMAN, J. G., and O'MALLEY, P. M. " Self esteem in Young Men : A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Educational and Occupational Attainment", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35: 365-380, 1977. ' COOPERSMITH, S.: The Antecedents of Self- esteem, San Francisco : W. H. Freeman, 1967. COOPERSMITH, S, : "Studies in Self-esteem", Scientific American, 218 : 2, 96-106, 1968. FLEMING, J. S., and WATTS, W. A. : The Dimensionality of Self-esteem : Some Results for a College Sample", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39: 5, 921- 929, 1980. ¦

GARRETT, H. E., Statistics In Psychology and Educatlon, Bombay: Vakils, Feffer and Simons, Pvt. Ltd., 1969. JANIS, I. L., and FIELD, P. B.: "Sex Differences and Personality Factors Related to Persuasibility", in Hovland, C. I. and Janis I. L., eds., Personality and Persuasibility, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1959. MASLOW, A. H., Motivation and Personality, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1954. O'MALLEY, P. M., and BACHMAN, J. G., "Selfesteem and Education: Sex and Cohort Comparisons Among High School Seniors*', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 : 7, 1153-1159, 1979. ROSENBERG, M., Society and the Adolescent SelfImage, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965. THOMAS, I. and SANANDARAJ, H. S., Self-esteem Inventory: Manual. Trivandrum ; Department of Psychology, University of Kerala, 1981, WYLIE, R., The Self-concept, Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1961. RECEIVED ON