The Role of Self-Esteem in the Academic Performance of Rural Students in China

Abstract

The self-esteem of students may be significantly associated with their academic performance. However, past research in developing contexts on this issue is limited, particularly among early adolescents. Using a sample of 3101 students from rural primary and junior high schools in China, this study measured their self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and explored its association with academic performance. Our findings indicate that students in rural China had both significantly lower self-esteem and a higher prevalence of low self-esteem when compared to past studies of similarly aged students both from urban China and internationally. Furthermore, there was a strong positive correlation between a student’s self-esteem and academic performance. A one-SD increase in RSES score (indicating better self-esteem) was associated with an increase of 0.12 SD in standardized math scores (p < 0.001), and students with low self-esteem (RSES score < 25) scored lower on math tests by 0.14 SD (p < 0.001), which were robust and consistent when employing the propensity score matching method. Our study expands the growing body of empirical evidence on the link between self-esteem and academic performance among rural youth in developing countries and emphasizes the need to improve their self-esteem with the aim of helping them achieve academically.

Impact of Obesity on Self-Esteem and Academic Performance among Medical Students in Al-Rayan Colleges, Al-Madinah

“…Another finding in the present study was that there was no correlation between self-esteem and academic performance; this was in contrast with a study done in China which found a positive correlation between self-esteem and academic performance [25]. Interestingly, the current study found that self-esteem was generally higher in academic year students than clinical year students.…”

Longitudinal relationships among loneliness, social anxiety, self-esteem and self-concept in rural left-behind children: a cross-lagged study

“…Regarding the selfesteem of RLBC, this study revealed no signi cant gender differences. This is consistent with other surveys of the self-esteem of RLBC in different Chinese provinces 40,41,42 . Similarly, other studies also found that gender did not strongly in uence of self-esteem, including children in the U.S. and Germany 43,44 .…”

Depression and Self-Esteem Among Afghan School-Going Adolescents

“…This nding contradicts the ndings of another study conducted in Turkey showing that an increase in parents' education level is associated with an increased self-esteem among adolescents [33]. Another study in China showed that adolescents whose fathers had more than nine years of education were 6.7% less likely to have low self-esteem [34].…”

“…The study showed that 94.5% of adolescents in high school reported poor self-esteem. Academic stress [31] and academic success [32] are associated with (and can affect) self-esteem among adolescents. Since high school is a period of preparing for the university admission test in Afghanistan, academic pressure resulting from this could have led to high school students reporting lower self-esteem.…”