Content uploaded by Ismarulyusda Binti Ishak
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Ismarulyusda Binti Ishak
Content may be subject to copyright.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer reviewed under responsibility of the UKM Teaching and Learning Congress 2011
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.426
UKM Teaching and Learning Congress 2011
Self-esteem and academic performance relationship amongst the
second year undergraduate students of Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Campus
Yanti Rosli, Hidayatulfathi Othman, Ismarulyusda Ishak, Syarif Husin Lubis, Nur
Zakiah Mohd. Saat and Baharudin Omar
Biomedical Science Program, Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Abstract
A cross sectional study was carried out to examine the relationship between self –esteem and students’ academic performance
among the second year undergraduates of Faculty of Health Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, UKM session 2010/2011.
Undergraduates (n= 220, 110 males) were selected via systemic random sampling, responded on survey domains regarding their
self-esteem, body area satisfaction, stress and demographic data using 3 scales – Rosernberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES),
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Body Area Satisfaction Scale (BASS). The study has found that the mean score for self-esteem
scales was 17.44±3.44 with score ranged from 0 to 30 (RSES); the mean of CGPA was 3.022±0.41. The correlation between self
esteem and academic performance were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation and linear regression, results showed that students
with higher self-esteem perform better in their academic (p< 0.0005, r=0.32); self esteem score and body area satisfaction was
significant (p< 0.05, r=0.016) and self esteem and stress is inversely significant (p< 0.05, r=-0.198). In conclusion, self-esteem
is one of the key factors in affecting an individual’s academic performance, more significant than other contributing factors
including stress and body image.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer reviewed under responsibility of the UKM Teaching and Learning
Congress 2011.
Keywords: self-esteem; academic performance; stress; body image satisfaction
1. Introduction
Self-esteem refers to a degree to which a person values himself or herself, the summation based on conscious
self-evaluative thoughts and feelings or in short, as a global emotional placement of self (Robin et al., 2001; Baccus
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +6-012-373-6549; fax: +6-03-2692-9032
E-mail address: hida_othman@yahoo.co.uk
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer reviewed under responsibility of the UKM Teaching and
Learning Congress 2011
583
Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
et al, 2003; Frost & McKelvie, 2005; Robert 2010). It can be either positive (high self-esteem) leads to greater
happiness or negative (low self-esteem) and self-doubt, potentially leads to depression (Baumeister et al, 2003).
According to Aryana (2010), students with high academic achievement tend to feel more confident in contrast to
those who lack confidence in them achieves less. There had been many studies on this self esteem and academic
achievement relationship has been carried out previously but the topic remains debatable and inconclusive (Naderi
2009). Though it is identified as a crucial factor in affecting student’s academic achievement has been singled out
(Aryana 2010); there are other potential influential factors such as gender (Dixon & Kurpius 2008; Teoh & Nur
Afiqah 2010; Pritchard 2010), body image (Tyler 2006) and stress level (Hughes, Priskell & Sales 1996; Agolla &
Ongori, 2009). According to a meta-analysis done by Gentile et al. (2009), self-esteem differences between men and
women in academic show no significant gender differences. The positive self-image will contribute to the person's
self-esteem, which include body satisfaction and Body Mass Index (BMI). Numerous studies found that women
with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) scores had a lower self-esteem and judged their own bodies more critically
than those with a low body image score (Ackard et al 2003; Forrest & Stuhldreher 2007; Weaver & Byers 2006).
The major causes of stress among students includes academic workload, inadequate resources, low motivation and
poor academic performance, overcrowded lecture halls, and uncertainty of getting jobs after graduation from the
university however Espenshade et al. (2005) reported that stress has a negative but insignificant association with
cumulated grade and no relationship with college credits.
Self esteem affects the thinking process, emotions, desires, values and goals in a person (Sandra 2009),
developed when the acceptance of others and their personal and group contributions are recognized and applauded,
especially in a multi-culturally diverse world, it is a key ingredient that affects the level of proficiency in all fields of
endeavor (Redenback 1991). The core idea of Self -Esteem Theory is that everyone feels that they has an intrinsic
“value” and always try to improve that value. Self esteem can be increased by praise and be built when the rewards
in the form of praise are given for real achievement. In addition, self esteem can also be developed by achieving
great successes and it can be maintained by avoiding failures. Despite this, there was only a modest correlation
discovered between self-esteem and academic performance mentioned in previous studies many of which concluded
that academic achievement and self-esteem are positively correlated (p<0.01) (Aryana 2010; Sandra 2009;
Habibollah et al. 2008); though Pullmann & Allik (2008) proved the relationship between total self-esteem and
academic achievement was not statistically significant, and low self-esteem does not necessarily signal a poor
academic performance.
According to Teoh and Afiqah (2010), the gender was not significantly associated with self esteem amongst
young Malaysian adults on the contrary to reports showing females students self esteem declines more rapidly than
the males (Heaven and Ciarrochi 2008) and greatest significance is seen during late adolescent (Kling et al. 1999).
In another study that has been conducted on Iranian undergraduates in Malaysian universities using Persian version
of Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES), shows that there was significant gender difference in self esteem and that
the level of self esteem in females were higher than males (Naderi et al. 2009).
This study specifically aimed to unveil the relationship between self-esteem and academic performance among
UKM undergraduates. It will reveal the identification of factors affecting students’ self-esteem, for instance;
demographic data (gender, faculty and parents’ highest educational level), stress and body image (body satisfaction
and Body Mass Index, BMI). The study also identifies other contributing factors affecting students’ academic
performance such as stress and age. In the wider perspective, the result of this study will be use as inputs for the
departments and the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences to better manage their own programs in order to enhance the
students’ academic performance. Thus, this study was aimed to explore the level of self esteem amongst the UKM
Kuala Lumpur Branch second year undergraduate students and to determine the corollary factors on academic
performance stemmed on the variables related to the formation of self esteem of the students.
2. Methodology
This study employed a cross sectional non-intervention study using a set of questionnaire, set out as part of a
Biostatistical course, NB3363 at Faculty of Health Sciences. The study population consisted of all second year
undergraduates of Faculty of Health Sciences (FSK) and Faculty of Medicine (FPER), Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia (UKM) 2010/2011 session.
584 Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
A complete namelists of the second year undergraduates from all the faculties based in Kuala Lumpur campus
were obtained and divided into two strata according to the gender (stratified sampling) before an equal number of
male and female students (n=110) were chosen by using systematic random sampling with an exclusion criteria,
namely, the second year undergraduates from Forensic Science Program, FSK, UKM on the same session . By using
KrejCie and Morgan (1970) with the assumption of a 10% drop-out rate, the sample size required was 245 subjects.
A pilot study was carried out to test the strength, validity and realibility of the questionnaire on random second year
Faculty of Pharmacy undergraduates of since they are excluded but have similar characteristics as our subjects. This
questionnaire consists of 4 parts, namely Personal Information (Part A, includes name, gender, faculty, parents’
education level, weight, height and Cumulative Grade point Average (CGPA), BMI is calculated from weight and
height data), Self Esteem (Part B, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)), Stress (Part C, Perceived Stress Scale,
(PSS)) and Body Area Satisfaction (Part D, Body Area Satisfaction Score (BASS) by Cash, 2000). All chosen
subjects signed written consent forms.
3. Results
There are a few statistical tests that are carried out in this study such as Independent T–test used to compare self-
esteem score, stress score, body satisfaction score, and Body Mass Index (BMI) against demographic factors which
are faculty and gender. Moreover, one way independent ANOVA test was used to compare self-esteem score, stress
score, body satisfaction score and self-esteem score against parents’ highest education level. The Pearson
Correlation and Spearman’s correlation was used to correlate all the relationship between self esteem and all the
confounding factors (CGPA, stress score, body satisfaction score and Body Mass Index (BMI). Last but not least,
the multiple regression tests were used to determine the effect of self-esteem and stress on CGPA. The demographic
data were summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Demographic data of the second year undergraduates of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Campus (n=220) that are
involved in this study.
Variable No of Respondent
(n)
Percentage
(%)
Gender
Male
Female
110
110
50
50
Faculty
Faculty of Health Science
Faculty of Medicine
120
100
54.5
45.5
Parents’ Education Level
Never
Primary school
Secondary school
Tertiary education
6
36
103
75
2.7
16.4
46.8
34.1
585
Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
Table 2. Mean and standard deviation of the scales used among the second year undergraduates of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Kuala
Lumpur Campus (n=220) that are involved in this study.
Variable Mean Sd.
CGPA
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
Perceived Stress Scale
Body Area Satisfaction Scale
Body Mass Index (BMI)
3.02
17.44
19.8
29.15
20.77
± 0.41
±3.44
±4.09
±7.48
±2.96
Based from the responses from the questionnaires, the mean with the standard deviation of the scales and CGPA
were gathered from the questionnaire (Table 2), the data were then analyzed using Welch’s t test was used to
compare self-esteem, CGPA, body area satisfaction and BMI score toward demographic data (gender) due to the
unequal variance that we found out from levene’s test (Table 3).
Table 3. Correlation for self esteem and confounding factors
Variable Mean Sd. t p
Self-esteem on Gender
Male
Female
17.58
17.29
±3.892
±2.941
0.626 0.011
CGPA on Gender
Male
Female
2.94
3.10
±0.433
±0.370
-3.000 0.003
Body Area Satisfaction on Gender
Male
Female
30.48
27.82
±8.387
±6.203
2.678 0.008
BMI score on Gender
Male
Female
21.40
20.15
±3.057
±2.758
3.186 0.002
*p<0.05, significant correlation
One way independent ANOVA test was used to compare self-esteem score, stress score, body satisfaction score
and self-esteem score against parents’ highest education level (Table 4, F=3.333, p=0.020). The student’s stress
level is affected by the parent’s highest education level; significant difference (p<0.021) between parents never been
to school and parents that and whose parents went to secondary school. Post hoc analyses with Turkey’s HSD
revealed that there is significant difference between parents never go to school and parents that go to primary school
and also parents never go to school and parents go to secondary school.
586 Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
Table 4. Post Hoc Test – Tukey test Correlation of self esteem and parents’ education background
The Pearson and Spearman’s correlations were used to correlate all the relationships between self esteem and
other confounding factors (CGPA, stress score, body satisfaction score and BMI). The correlation between self
esteem score and body area satisfaction score is classified as weak positive (r=0.163, p<0.2; Table 5); weak negative
correlation between self esteem and stress (r=-0.198 p<0.005). Spearman’s rho correlation was used to find the
correlation between self esteem score and Body Mass Index (BMI) because the data for BMI is an ordinal data.
Spearman’s rho indicated there is a weak positive relationship between self esteem score and ranked Body Mass
Index (BMI), r=0.051 but the correlation is not significant.
Table 5. Correlation for self esteem and confounding factors
Correlation coefficient, r p
Self esteem and body area satisfaction .163 .016
Self esteem and stress
Self esteem and Body Mass Index (BMI)
-.198
.051
.003
.453
*p<0.05, significant correlation
Table 6. Multiple linear regressions
Multiple linear regression was performed to estimate CGPA (Table 6) score that can be accounted by stress and
self-esteem. Mahalanobis distance and Cook’s distance were used to identify the presence of outliers. The
Mahalanobis distance did not exceed the critical for df = 2 (at Į=0.001) of 13.82 for any cases in the data file
(maximum Mahalanobis distance for this study is 10.385). The maximum Cook’s distance is 0.033; indicating
absence of outliers. Third, the tolerances for both stress and self-esteem is high, which is 0.961 (TOL>0.2), hence
both stress and self-esteem are not collinear. In combination, stress and self-esteem accounts for a significant 16%
of the variability towards CGPA score, R² = 0.16, adjusted R² = 0.152 which shows a large effect. The equation for
the model is: CGPA score = 1.784 + 0.023 (stress) + 0.045 (self esteem).
4. Discussion
The results from this study indicated that there is a significant moderate positive correlation between self esteem
and CGPA the second year undergraduates of Faculty of Health Science and Faculty of Medicine, UKM session
2010/2011. This finding concurs to previous report (Aryana, 2010; Habibollah et al. 2008, Pullmann &Allikk
(2008). The weak positive correlation is supported by published study which have shown that the association
Parents’ Highest Education Level Mean
Difference
Std.
Error
Sig.
Never attended
school
Primary School 5.083 1.775 .024
.021
Secondary school 4.916 1.691
Tertiary education 4.120 1.708 .078
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta 8.864 <.0005
(Constant) 1.784 .201 3.649 <.0005
Stress .023 .006 .232 5.902 <.0005
Self esteem .045 .008 .375 8.864 <.0005
587
Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
between these two variables was modest possibly cause by, cognitively better developed and academically
successful students have a more critical outlook on themselves, and the students with more modest academic
abilities compensate their academic lack by uplifting their general self-esteem (Pullmann & Allik, 2008).
No significant difference in between gender and self-esteem were observed in our results. This concurs to
previous researches that also showed no significant difference between gender and self esteem (Dixon & Kurpius
2008; Teoh & Nur Afiqah 2010; Aryana 2010). Thus, the lack of self esteem differences between genders was
believed associated with other factors such as environment, social, cognitive and biological. Parents’ highest
education levels do not play a role in self esteem of the students either.
The output of this data shows that, there is a difference in measure between genders on CPGA with female
students academic achievements are higher as compared to the males. Body dissatisfaction usually used to describe
an individual’s body image. It is an intense, negative distortion of one’s body image and it has found to be much
greater in females than in males (Hargreaves & Tiggemann 2004). Males with low body image often perceive
themselves as too thin, whereas females with low body image perceive themselves as ‘too heavy’. Lack of
muscularity is the main cause of body dissatisfaction in men, in females, lower body image influenced by a variety
of factors, such as body mass, social comparisons, and appearance conversations with friends (Carlson 2004).
Besides, result shows that there is a significant different between male and female’s BMI score. It may due to male
students prefer to be broader and more muscular built whereas female students prefer to have slimmer body and
lower body weight (Brodie et al (1991); Furnham et al. 2002).
Next, this study also revealed that stress can be influenced by parents’ highest education level possibly due
parents with a higher education level can relate academically to their children and help them to cope with stress and
students whose parents never been to school have higher stress level as compared to students whose parents have
been to school to fit in the social obligations and pressured to outperform their parents academically. Our results
also showed very weak significant positive correlation between body area satisfaction and self esteem. Based on the
background studies, we found that there are few studies also showed that there is a positive correlation between
body satisfaction and self esteem. (Tyler 2006, Mellor et al 2010). Thus, higher self esteem was associated with
body satisfaction (Mellor et al, 2010). If the individual is strongly dissatisfied with him or her body, it will lower the
body image and eventually lowering self esteem (Lowery et al. 2005). Based on these results, the correlation
between self esteem score and stress score was classified as very weak negatively correlated. which signify that self
esteem is not highly dependent on stress but also on other factors that can affect self esteem.
The relation between stress score and CGPA, revealed a very weak positive relationship between these two
factors. According other studies carried out by other local college students (Womble, 2001 and Anna et al., 2005);
correlation between academic performance and stress is insignificant. In contrast we report significant correlation
between these two factors; most probably because we used larger sample size compared to other studies. This weak
positive correlation between stress score and CGPA of the students could possibly contributed by the requirement
of these two faculties in which students have to attain minimum CGPA of 3.00 to be able to register more than 20
credit hours per semester, in order complete their degree.
Lastly, we report very weak negative correlation between self esteem and stress. In line with the result obtained,
depression state, anxiety state, body image and academic performance are cited as factors that have stronger
relationship with self-esteem whereas perception of high demands, sleep disturbances, and poor social support
played a crucial role in the prediction of stress symptoms (Aryana 2010; Tyler 2006). In general, this study revealed
that self esteem greatly affects academic performance in comparison to stress. The findings from this study
contribute to the Faculties to better manage programs to enhance students’ self-esteem, by elevating one’s self
esteem; it indirectly helps to improve one’s academic performance.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for providing the research grant UKM-PTS-112-2010.
References
Ackard, D. M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Perry, C. (2003). Overeating among adolescents: Prevalence and associations with weight-
related characteristics and psychological health. Pediatrics, 111(1), 67-74.
588 Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
Agolla JE & Angori H. 2009. An assessment of academic stress among undergraduate students: The case of University of Botswana. Educational
Research and Review. 4 (2):63-70
Anna, Z., Scott, M.L., & Thomas, J.E. 2005, ‘Self-efficacy, stress, and academic success in college’, Research in Higher Education. 46(10):677-
706.
Aryana, M. 2010, ‘Relationship Between Self-esteem and Academic Achievement Amongst Pre-University Students’, Journal of Applied
Sciences. 10 (20): 2474-2477.
Baccus, J.R., Baldwin, M.W., & Packer, D.J. 2004, ‘Increasing Implicit Self-esteem through Classical Conditioning’, American Psychological
Society, vol. 15, no. 7.
Baumeister, R.F., Campbell, J.D., Krueger, J.I., & Vohs, K.D. 2003, ‘Does High Self-esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success,
Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles?’ Psychological Science in The Public Health, vol. 4, no. 1.
Brodie DA, Slade PD & Riley VJ. 1991. Sex differences in body image perceptions. Perceptual Motor Skills, 7:73-74.
Carlson, J.D. 2004, ‘Body image among adolescent girls and boys: A longitudinal study’, Developmental Psychology, (40)823-835.
Cash, T.F. 2000. User’s manual for the multidimensional bodyself-relations questionnaire. Available from the author at http://www.body-
images.com.
Deborah, E, Philip, B, Kim, B & Una, H 2010. ‘A longitudinal study of stress and self-esteem in student nurses’, Nurse Education Today,
(30):78-84.
Dixon, S. K., & Kurpius, S. E. R. (2008). Depression and college stress among university undergraduates: Do mattering and self-esteem made a
difference? Journal of College Student Development, 49:412-424.
Espenshade, T.J., Lynch, S.M., & Zajacova, A. 2005. ‘Self-efficacy, Stress, and Academic Success in College’, Research in Higher Education,
6(46):677-706
Furnham, A, Badmin, N & Sneade, I 2002, ‘Body image dissatisfaction: Gender differences in eating attitudes, self-esteem, and reasons for
exercise’, Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, no. 136, pp. 581-596.
Forrest, K. Y. Z., & Stuhldreher, W. L. 2007. Patterns and correlates of body image dissatisfaction and distortion among college students.
American Journal of Health Studies, 22(1), 18-25.
Frost, J., & McKelvie, S. 2005. The Relationship of Self Esteem and Body Satisfaction to Exercise Activity for Male and Female Elementary
School, High School, and University Students. Athletic insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology. 7 (online) Retrieved May 20, 2011
fromhttp://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol7Iss4/Selfesteem.htm
Gentile, B., Grabe, S., Dolan-Pascoe, B., Twenge, J. M., Wells, B. E., & Maitino, A. (2009). Gender differences in domain-specific self-esteem:
A meta analysis. Review of General Psychology, 13(1), 34–45.
Goldenberg, JL, McCoy, SK, Pyszczynski, T, Greenberg, J & Solomon, S 2000, ‘The body as source of self esteem: The effect of mortality
salience on identification with one’s body, interest in sex, and appearance monitoring’, Personality and Social Psychology, pp. 118-130.
Habibollah, N, Rohani, A, Aizan, T, Jamaluddin, S & Kumar, V 2009, ‘Self Esteem Gender and Academic Achievement of Undergraduate
Students’, American Journal of Scientific Research, no. 3, pp. 26-37.
Hargreaves, DA & Tiggemann, M 2004, ‘Idealized media images and adolescent body image’, “Comparing” boys and girls. Body Image,
(1):351-361.
Heaven P & Ciarrochi, J 2008. Parental Styles, Gender and the Development of Hope and Self-Esteem. European Journal of Personality. 22:
707–724
Joseph E, Agolla & Henry Ongori. 2009, An assessment of academic stress among undergraduate students: The case of University of Botswana.
Educational Research and Review. 4(2): 063-070.
Kling KC, Hyde JS, Showers CJ, Buswell BN. 1999. Gender differences in self-esteem: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 125(4):470-500.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. 1970. Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement. (30): 607-
610.
Lowery SE, Kurpius S, Befort C, Blanks EH, Sollenberger S, Nicpon MF & Huser L. 2005. Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Health-Related
Behaviors Among Male and Female First Year College Students. Journal of College Student Development. 46(6):612-62.
Mary P. 2010. Does self esteem moderate the relation between gender and weight preoccupation in undergraduates? Personality and
Individual Differences, (48): 224–227.
Mellor D, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M, McCabe MP. & Ricciardelli, LA 2010. Body image and self-esteem across age and gender : a short-term
longitudinal study. Sex roles 63(9-10): 672-681.
Naderi H, Rohani A, Tengku Aizan H., Jamaluddin S & Kumar, V. 2009. Creativity, age and gender as predictors of academic achievement
among undergraduate students. Journal of American Science 5(5):101-112.
Pullmann, H & Allik, J 2008, ‘Relations of academic and general self-esteem to school Achievement’, Personality and Individual Differences,
45:559-564.
589
Yanti Rosli et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 60 ( 2012 ) 582 – 589
Pritchard M 2010. Does self esteem moderate the relation between gender and weight preoccupation in undergraduates? Personality and
Individual Differences 48, (2):224-227
Redenbach, S 1991, Self-Esteem, the Necessary Ingredient for Success, USA: Esteem Seminar Programs and Publications.
Robin , R.W., Tracy, J.L., & Trzesniewski, K. (2001). Personality correlates of self esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, pp. 463482.
Sandra, LH 2009, The relationship between self-esteem and academic success among African American students in the minority engineering
program at a research extensive university in the southern portion of the United States, The School of Human Resource Education and
Workforce Development, US.
Teoh, HJ, Nur Afiqah, R 2010, ‘Self Esteem Amongst Young Adults: The Effect of Gender Social Support and Personality’, Malaysian
Psychiatric Association e-Journal Online Early, vol. 19, no. 2.
Thorayya, SG, Thomas, FC, James, MH & Erin, KE 2008, ‘The measurement of body-image dissatisfaction-satisfaction: Is rating importance
important?’, Body Image, no. 5, pp. 216-223.
Tyler, LF 2006. ‘The Effects of Body Image on Self-Efficacy, Self Esteem, and Academic Achievement’, Senior Honors Thesis, Department of
Psychology, Ohio State University.
Weaver, A. D., & Byers, E. S. 2006. The relationship between body image, body mass index, and exercise and heterosexual women’s sexual
functioning. Psychology of Women Quarterly, (30):333–339.
Womble, LP 2001, Impact of Stress Factors on College Students Academic Performance, University of North Carolina.
