RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-ESTEEM AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A GENDERED PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The goal of self-esteem is to cultivate positive feelings and thoughts about oneself throughout life. Self-esteem, in its simplest form, is a person's opinion and evaluation of themselves, which can be positive or negative, good or bad, and enjoyable or painful. The present study was carried out to measure the association between self-esteem and academic performance among the university going adolescents of South Punjab (Dera Ghazi Khan). The purpose was also to measure gender differences between the study variables. A total of 84 participants (41 female students and 43 male students) were included in the study and selected through the purposive sampling technique. To measure the academic performance of students, their CGPA was used while Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was used to assess their self-esteem. T-test analysis was used to explore the gender differences among the study variables. Pearson Product Moment Correlational Analysis was used to measure the association between self-esteem and academic performance. The results demonstrated significantly positive correlation between self-esteem and academic performance. In addition, gender differences were found in terms of self-esteem as female participants had high self-esteem as compared to their male counterparts. However, gender differences were found to be insignificant in terms of academic performance. More studies, on larger samples are needed to make the results generalizable on general population. In addition, academic institutes must hire psychologists in order to ensure a support system to the students who suffer with low self-esteem. This would eventually have a positive impact on their academic performance as well. Keywords: Self-esteem, Academic Performance, Gender Differences