College students, from their first steps onto the university to the very last class, experience the struggles of achieving academic success. Several factors can affect academic performance, defined as the overall grade point average (GPA) at the end of a term. According to McFarlin (1984), self-esteem is believed to be important for academic performance because failure is common in any learning process, and people with high self-esteem continue to their goals in the face of failure. In another debate with these studies, self-esteem is defined in several different ways. Self-esteem is defined by one researcher as a self-reflexive attitude addressing how one feels about the self when it …show more content…
Studies on the relationship between self-esteem and GPA in high schools have shown mixed results. One study’s research suggests a shared process where academic performance promoted self-esteem, and then high self-esteem assisted academic performance (Purkey, 1970). However, some studies found that the relationship between high self-esteem and academic achievement are found to be highly significant (Ahmad, Zeb, Ullah, & Ali, 2013). Supporting the previous study, Hattie (1992) found that when it comes to the relationship between academic results and self-esteem there was an average correlation of 0.34; this means that the relationship between self-esteem and academic results is weak, which still leaves much to be explained. However, one study performed by Bahrami and Bahrami (2015) stated that it is difficult to make a conclusion from these studies due to the inconsistency of other studies’ …show more content…
One study paired self-esteem and academic outcomes to promote academic success and also looked at self- esteem as it is too strongly connected to academic outcomes in ways that are damaging to academic and psychological adjustment (Hope, Chavous, Jagers, & Sellers, 2003). Another looked at self-esteem as a relevant variable that is associated with good academic results and intrinsic motivation to learn (Navarro, Thomas and Oliver 2006). In another study done by Barra (2012), self-esteem was shown to have more impact on psychological well-being than perceived social support. Having high self-esteem, a student is less likely to have a negative attitude about failure and will likely find ways around the