Effects Of Self Esteem On Academic Achievement

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Chapter I
Introduction
An individual’s self-esteem is one of the major factors in self-image or self-concepts and considered to be an important determinant in human behavior. As such self-esteem has been conceptualized and examined in a variety of ways in the educational, sociological and psychological contexts. Self-esteem according to Ferkany (2008) is “how a person feels about him or herself, good or bad, and as manifested in a variety of ways, for example, in pride or shame, but especially in self-confidence”. Possession of high self-esteem has positive behavioral benefits. These include independence, responsibility taking, and toleration of frustration, resistant to peer pressure, willingness to attempt new tasks and challenges, ability to handle positive and negative emotions, and willingness to offer assistance to others (Ferkany, 2008). Despite popular beliefs that high self-esteem facilitates academic achievement, only a modest correlation was discovered between general self-esteem and school performance (Byrne, 1984; Byrne & Shavelson, 1986; Hansford & Hattie, 1982; Marsh & Yeung, 1998; Mintz & Muller, 1977). A recent meta-analysis estimated that the effect of the favorable influence of positive self-beliefs on academic achievement is modest and the overall estimated relation is about .08 (Valentine, Dubois, & Cooper, 2004). Also longitudinal studies do not point to any significant role for general self-esteem in the advancing of academic performance (Bachman &