Self-esteem plays a crucial role in academic achievement and other aspects of a student’s life. Self-esteem is described as an individual’s global judgment of competency regarding one’s self-worth. Many theories on self-esteem show that it matures during adolescence; hence the reason to explore how it affects performance. Numerous studies reported that self-esteem has either positive or negative influence on academic achievement. Kumar et al. (2016) state that students with high self-esteem are at ease socially, they are confident in their opinions and judgment. They are more ambitious and academically successful in comparison to students with low self-esteem. Students with low self-esteem lack confidence in themselves, they are easily hurt by criticism, and they tend to have lower goals in comparison to students with high self-esteem.
Esteem needs occupy the fourth layer in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs making self-esteem a higher need. Maslow describes esteem as the need to be respected and valued by others. Human beings are social beings, and they desire to loved and accepted; they engage in many activities to solidify their position in a group. When human beings feel accepted and valued, they feel more confident in themselves. According to Maslow, self-esteem is the last step towards self-actualization.
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This purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between self-esteem and test performance. The hypotheses of the experiment are:
H1: Self-esteem has a significant effect on test performance
H2: Self-esteem has no effect on test performance
Methodology
i. Sample
24 randomly selected 10th graders voluntarily participated in the experiment. The first eligibility criterion was that all the participants should be in the same grade. The experiment also gave equal opportunities to male and female students; hence there were 12 male and 12 females. The participants were recruited from St. Patrick’s High School*, a neighboring public high school. The sample was selected using 24 random numbers, students who picked the correct numbers became eligible for the study.
ii. Measuring Variables
The experiment uses a questionnaire to collect data from the participants. The semi-structured questionnaire had sections that gave choices to the participants, and a few open-ended questions that gave the respondents had the freedom to respond however they wanted. The questionnaire focused on test performance and perceived stress level as the two primary variables, with test performance as the dependent variable. The first part of the questionnaire was used to gather demographic information that can influence the student stress level such as gender, age, and family information.
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RES) was used to measure self-esteem among participants. RES scale was developed in 1989; it is valid, reliable and it has been used in thousands of studies to measure self-esteem in participants. The experiment approximated the reliability coefficient of the scale at 0.64. RES scale is made up of 10 items which are designed in the Likert’s 5-point response format. RES is tied to Likert’s-point response format ranging from strongly agree (1), disagree (2), undecided (3), agree (4) to strongly disagree (5). The participants were asked to mark (X) for one response for each question. The median score for the RES scale was obtained, and participants who scored above the median score had high self-esteem while those who scored below the median score had low self-esteem. The dependent variable (test performance) was evaluated using the participant’s grade point average (GPA) from the previous three tests. GPA ranges from 1.00 t0 4.00, with higher ranges indicating academic excellence. Beck Anxiety Inventory was also used to test anxiety among students. The scale has 21 questions designed in Likert’s-point response format. The scale was used to support the RES.
iii. Procedure
The experiment will take place at St. Patrick’s High School. The venue of the study will be the 10th-grade classroom as the participants will feel comfortable taking part in the experiment in their natural setting. After the last class of the day, the participants will be asked to remain behind to take part in the experiment. The researcher will work with the class teacher to administer the questionnaire.
The experiment is a longitudinal study; thus it will occur at multiple points as the students go on with their high school. Self-esteem is a crucial issue that is yet to mature among teenagers; one-time study cannot capture the real student self-esteem to make a reliable conclusion on its effects on academic achievement.
During the experiment, the researcher will start by thanking the participants for engaging in the study and explaining reasons/goals for the study. The researcher will also inform the students on how to answer the questionnaire, and remind them not to include their real names or names of others when responding. After instructing the participants, the researcher distributes the questionnaires and gives the students ample time to answer the questions. The participants are free to ask questions if they have any issues. Once the students are done, the researcher will collect the questionnaires for analysis. ANOVA table will be used to test hypotheses of the study.
References
Kumar, R., Behmani, R., & Singh, K. (2016). Impact of self-esteem and adjustment on academic performance of adolescents. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing , 7 (1), 133.
