The Relationship between Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement among Female Students at Almaty Management University

Aigerim Muratbekova 

Almaty Management University, Kazakhstan

Abstract

Self-esteem is considered one of the important factors for predicting a person's success in education and career. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of self-esteem in the academic success of female students at Almaty Management University. For this purpose, the academic grades of 30 undergraduate female students were collected and then, through a questionnaire, their self-esteem score was obtained based on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The results showed a positive relationship between the high levels of self-esteem of female students and their academic grades. The results showed that women's self-esteem can be an important factor in predicting their success in education. It may help managers increase female employees' self-esteem in order to strengthen their performance in organizations.

Introduction

Nowadays, self-esteem is recognized as a significant component influencing students’ academic accomplishments. Parents and tutors believe that having strong self-esteem can contribute to having excellent educational performance. This correspondence has received special attention: Various correlational studies have been conducted on the self-esteem levels and academic achievement of children and adolescents (Gracheva, 2018; Juwono & Winarta, 2017; Mutuma, 2007). According to these findings, the good grades of students from other cultures are due to their strong self-belief and self-confidence. Despite this, there is no restorative evidence that this trend is progressing among Kazakh students. The goal of this paper is to investigate the effects of the level of self-esteem on the Grade Point Average (GPA) of the Almaty Management University (AlmaU) students.

Literature Review

Self-esteem

We are used to thinking that self-esteem is an internal sense of being worthy, but in reality, it is much more than that. According to Branden (1995), self-esteem is a strong belief in your strengths and abilities to achieve your goals and meet your ambitions and confidence in your success and accomplishment. If individuals have high self-esteem, they probably deal with challenges much better than those with low self-esteem. Another definition of self-esteem is given by Smith et al. (2014): "The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it." Self-esteem is also considered to be a person's assessment of their own worth in comparison to others. It can also imply that an individual embraces their flaws and talents and believes they deserve good conduct towards themselves from people around them. Self-esteem helps capitalize on one's assets while also compensating for weaknesses. Zhuravleva (2020) claims that overestimated self-esteem may confirm personal immaturity and inability to properly evaluate the outcomes of their activities; such self-esteem may indicate insensitivity to their mistakes, failures, comments, and assessments of others. Overestimated self-esteem is just as damaging as underestimated self-esteem. With inflated self-esteem, a person develops excessive self-demands, sets unreasonable objectives, and feels unwell if they are not met. She also states that a person with low self-confidence feels bad and unworthy of success. Lack of self-belief hinders the achievement of goals, making them modest but more achievable. Students with such self-esteem may do well for a while, then abruptly underperform (American Psychological Association, 2021, p. 1). Syzdykbayeva et al. (2021) assert: “Adequate self-esteem is defined as a person's accurate judgment of himself, his talents, traits, and deeds.” People with adequate self-esteem believe they are better capable of completing any work or activity and are more willing to express opposing viewpoints and share new ideas (Thatcher & Brown, 2010). Similarly, strong self-esteem allows for the maintenance of high levels of internal motivation while decreasing external incentives (Amabile & Pillemer, 2012).

Mutuma (2007) claims that, in order to retain good academic achievement, it is essential for kids to have a positive self-concept. It plays an important role in the development of an adolescent's mental health and the formation of life objectives (Dunham et al., 2007).

Academic Performance

Academic performance, also known as academic achievement, lacks a specific definition. Commonly, it refers to the student’s grades received during the academic semesters. Narad and Abdullah (2016) argue that “academic performance refers to the knowledge attained and designated by marks assigned by the teacher” (p. 1). They also reinforced the widely held view that excellent academic achievement indicates greater professional opportunities and, as a result, a more stable future.

Performance at school has an impact on further education as well as on the career decision-making process (Flashman, 2012; Rana & Mahmood, 2010). Teenagers with low academic performance usually feel critical and disillusioned about their future and face pressure from the elderly, which can have a detrimental impact on their subjective well-being.

While academic achievement is the most important outcome of a formal educational experience, no one denies that such achievement plays a vital role in student life and beyond (Chernyshenko et al., 2018; Frydenberg et al., 2017; Moore et al., 2006). Researchers and politicians have begun to focus on the relationship between social and emotional factors as indicators of student well-being and psychological development (Kell et al., 2013).

Academic Performance and Self-esteem

There is a correlation between self-esteem level and academic performance (Juwono & Winarta, 2017). The research has shown that more than half of all interviewees had adequate self-esteem, and more than 50% of applicants had high academic achievement with an overall IP (adequate progress grade assigned at the end of the term) of 3.0 out of 4.0 and above. It also showed that Internet usage does not affect academic performance because nine-tenths of participants work on the Internet on a daily basis, and just below six-tenths of them have good academic achievement.

Gracheva (2018) conducted research to identify the influence of the level of self-assessment on the success of 9^th graders. She used two methods for collecting data: Schura and Zobkov methods. When studying the relationship of self-esteem using the "Ladder" method invented by Schura with academic performance among freshmen at high school, the following results were found: 1st place in success (those who get only “4”, “5” out of 5) is occupied by adolescents with adequate self-esteem – 26 people (53%); 2nd place in terms of success goes to adolescents with high self-esteem—12 people (25%); 3rd place—teenagers with low self-esteem— 3 people (6%). The same results were found when using the questionnaire of Zobkov.

Self-esteem had an inconsequential impact on the performance of secondary school students in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya (Kariuki et al., 2019). Despite that, respondents claim that specific academic competition requires a specific level of self-belief.

There is correlation research conducted by Twinomugisha (2008) with a sample of 37 students in their last year of study at the United States International University in East Africa. This study aimed to observe a tendency of increasing self-esteem to boost academic accomplishment. Twinomugisha also examined the difference in growth patterns of self-esteem between boys and girls and, if so, what association it could have with academic accomplishment. Students measured their self-esteem in their freshman and senior years with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The scale is reliable; retest reliability varies from .82 to 0.88, while Cronbach's alpha ranges from .77 to .88 for different groups. According to the findings of this study, there is a positive link (r =.04) between self-esteem and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). The findings indicated a negative association between self-esteem and gender (r = .31) and a positive link between CGPA and gender (r = .05); male self-esteem and CGPA grew, while female self-esteem fell, but grades remained steady. Although the association was modest, the study showed a favorable relationship between self-esteem and academic success.

Zhuravleva (2020) performed research with 17 students from the technical school SPT. She employed the following approaches in the study: Dembo-Rubinstein Method of Self-Esteem Measurement; Budassi Test, “Quantitative Expression of Self-Esteem." According to the results of the study, it turned out that self-esteem affects learnability at the technical school, but she believes that other factors also have an impact on learning success, such as attendance, relationship with teachers, the psychological climate in the group, etc.

Similar research on academic performance/self-esteem of pupils and students has been conducted in Pakistan, Kenya, Russia, and Indonesia (Gracheva, 2018; Juwono & Winarta, 2017; Kariuki et al., 2019; Twinomugisha, 2008). To the best of my knowledge, no such study has been conducted in Kazakhstan.

Hypothesis

1.               Self-esteem and the GPA levels of female students of Almaty Management University are correlated.

2.               Self-esteem and the GPA levels of female students of Almaty Management University are not correlated.

Method

Methodological Approach

Quantitative data analysis was used during the study to indicate objective measures, such as numerical analysis of survey data.

Data Collection

This study took place in April 2022. Data was collected using the convenience sampling technique. The population investigated in this research is sophomore female students in undergraduate programs at Almaty Management University in the 2021-2022 academic year. The sample size for this study is 30 participants.

Procedure

A questionnaire with thirteen items was constructed and distributed via Google Forms. In order to prevent any difficulties from occurring, it was divided into two parts. The basic information such as student name, GPA, and agreement to participate were all inquired about in the first part. This questionnaire is given in Appendix. For the objectives of this study, academic achievement was measured by the average GPA scores of students. Almaty Management University reports GPA on a 4.0 scale; the highest grade is an A+, equivalent to 4.0. We adopted the Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-Esteem Scale. The measure is a ten-item Likert scale, with each item graded on a four-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Questions 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 are scored in reverse order. Originally, 1 point is given for "Strongly Disagree”, 2 points for “Disagree”, 3 points for “Agree”, and the maximum point for “Strongly Agree." Scores for all ten items were added together. The higher scores an individual gets, the higher his self-esteem is. Participants were not limited in time during the fulfillment of the survey. Overall, 36 female students responded. Due to the fact that not all surveys were completed in full, only 30 answers were accepted and analyzed. The statistical analysis was performed using Data Analysis tools in Microsoft Excel 2016.

Results

The Pearson Correlation was used to correlate the relationship between self-esteem and academic performance. Rosenberg self-esteem measure results and GPA of all respondents are given in Table 1, while Table 2 shows the mean and standard deviation of the scales.

Table 1

Results of Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale & GPA of All Respondents

The scale ranges from 0-30. Scores below 15 indicate low self-esteem and scores from 15 to 25 are considered normal (“Rosenberg self-esteem scale”, Wikipedia, 2021). There are 11 interviewees with low self-esteem and a total of 19 interviewees with a normal self-scale. The lowest score among those tested by the Rosenberg self-esteem scale is 11 out of 30, whereas the highest score among the respondents is at the point of 22. The average GPA level of Respondent 12 is 2.8, which is the minimum outcome; the highest GPA is 3.85, as shown in the third column.

Table 2

Mean and Standard Deviation of the Scales

 Table 2 shows that the mean score of respondents’ self-esteem is 16.80 out of 30 with a standard deviation of 2.95, while the mean total score of respondents’ academic performance is 3.47 out of 4 with a standard deviation of .25.

Table 3

Pearson’s Correlation between Self-esteem and Academic Performance

 As presented in Table 3, the results of the Pearson correlation indicated that there is a moderate negative relationship between self-esteem and academic performance, r(28) = .38, p = .03, p < .05). In this context, the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between self-esteem and academic performance was rejected.

Conclusion

As academic achievement remains fundamental to students' and schoolers' daily lives, it is critical to explore if elements such as self-esteem might influence it. This study demonstrates the correlation between the GPA and self-esteem levels of sophomore female students of Almaty Management University. The relationship is still worth comprehending and exploring, whether self-esteem influences academic accomplishment or academic achievement influences self-esteem. Additional research in the context of Kazakhstani higher education is required to investigate the link between these two factors. Future research may also consider other important variables such as EQ, IQ, and family environment to assess their impact on academic accomplishment and self-esteem.

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