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Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023) 27
psihiatru
Mental health and self‑esteem
correlated with the academic
achievements of youths from
Sri Lankan schools
Objectives. This research investigation was done to study
the relationship between mental health and self-esteem
with academic achievement among Sri Lankan youths.
Method. The sample for this study was selected using
purposive sampling from educational institutions of
Ampara District, Sri Lanka. The total number of samples
was 516. The age range of the participants in this study
was from 16 to 24 years old (mean age: 19.2 years old).
Standard tools were used for data processing, such as
the Mental Health Scale developed by Kamlesh Sharma
and the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. Further, academic
achievement was measured using secondary data, such
as semester marks list of youth from schools, colleges
and universities. The personnel information plan created
by the researcher was used to collect information
along with relevant demographic and social data. The
pretested questionnaire was reliable, being validated
before the final data collection. The data analysis
method was developed in this study. The informants
were contacted individually by the investigator, and
the data were obtained through questionnaires. Data
retention is limited to a period of three months.
Results. A statistical analysis, using the t-test, ANOVA,
correlations and regressions, was performed. The result
revealed that, out of eight demographic variables in this
study, five variables (i.e., age, locality, father’s education,
parent’s income and type of family) were in a significant
correlation with mental health of youths and, also, only
two variables (i.e., locality and type of family) were in
significant correlation with the self-esteem of the youths.
Further results revealed that, out of eight demographic
variables in this study, seven variables (i.e., age, gender,
locality, father’s education, mother’s education,
parent’s income and type of family) had a significant
correlation with the academic achievement of youths.
Conclusions. The results indicated that
there is a significant positive relationship
between mental health and self-esteem with
the academic achievements of youths.
Keywords: mental health, self-esteem, academic
achievement, Sri Lanka
Abstract Rezumat M. Firose1,
M.M. Musthafa1,
F.M.M.T. Marikar2
1. Department of Biosystems
Technology, Faculty of
Technology, South Eastern
Univers ity of Sri La nka,
Univers ity Park, O luvil, Sri L anka
2. Genera l Sir John Ko telawala
Defense University,
Ratmalana, Sri Lanka
Corresponding author:
F.M.M.T. Marikar
E-mail: faiz@kdu.ac.lk
Sănătatea mintală și stima de sine corelate cu performanțele academice ale
tinerilor din învățământul din Sri Lanka
Suggest ed citatio n for this ar ticle: Firo se M, Mustha fa MM, Marik ar FMMT. Mental he alth and se lf-estee m correlat ed with the ac ademic ac hieveme nts of youth s from
Sri Lankan schools. Psihiatru.ro. 2023;73(2):27-32
Received:
30.05.2023
Accepted:
23.06.2023
Obiective. Această cercetare investigațională a fost
efectuată pentru a studia relația dintre sănătatea mintală și
stima de sine cu performanța academică în rândul tinerilor
din Sri Lanka.
Metodă. Eșantionul pentru acest studiu a fost selec tat prin
eșantionare intenționată, în cadrul instituțiilor de învățământ
din Districtul Ampa ra, Sri Lanka. Numărul total de tineri in cluși
în studiu a fost de 516. Intervalul de vârstă al participa nților
a fost cuprins între 16 și 24 de ani (vârsta medie: 19,2 ani). Au
fost utilizate instrumente standardizate pentru prelucrarea
datelor, cum ar fi Scala de evaluare a sănătății mintale
dezvoltată de Kamlesh Sharma și Scala de autoeval uare a
stimei de sine a lui Rosenberg. Per formanța academică a fost
măsurată utilizând date secundare, precum listele de note
pe semestre ale tinerilor din școli, colegii sau universități.
Planul de informații creat de cercetător a fost utilizat pentru
colectarea informațiilor și a datel or demografice și sociale
relevante. Chestionarul pretestat a fost fia bil, fiind validat
înainte de colectarea fina lă a datelor. În cadrul acestui studiu,
am dezvoltat și metoda de a naliză a datelor. Participanţii au
fost contactați individual de investigator, iar datele au fost
obținute prin intermediul chestionarelor. Păstrarea datelor
este limitată la o perioadă de trei luni.
Rezultate. S-a efectuat analiza statistică, utilizând testul t,
ANOVA, corelații și regresii. Rezultatele au arătat că, din cele
opt variabile demografice din acest studiu, cinci variabile
(respecti v, vârsta, lo calitatea, educația tatălui, venitul
părinților și tipul de familie) au avut o corelație semnificativă
cu sănătatea mintală a tinerilor și, de asemenea, doar două
variabile (respectiv, localitatea și tipul de familie) au avut o
corelație semnificativă cu stima de sine a tinerilor. În plus,
rezultatele au arătat că, din cele opt variabile dem ografice
din acest studiu, șapte variabile (respectiv, vârsta, genul,
localitatea, educația tatălui, educația mamei, venitul
părinților și tipul de familie) au avut o corelație semnificativă
cu performanța academi că a tinerilor.
Concluzii. Rezultatele au indicat că există o relație
semnificativă și pozitivă între sănătatea mintală și stima de
sine cu rezultatele academice ale tinerilor.
Cuvinte-cheie: sănătate mintală, stimă de sine,
performanţe academice, Sri Lanka
Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023)
28
Introduction
Every human being experiences different phases of
life in which the youth period is crucial, valuable and
productive. It is also a settling down age, assuming
responsibilities and taking two or more roles at the
same time(1). The youths in contemporary world must
face many challenges and emotional tension and they
have to cope with them for a successful performance.
They are physically and mentally healthy, and their
academic success often depends on many factors.
Psychic health and self-worth can be identified as two
important factors. A healthy teenager is not only physi-
cally healthy, but also physically healthy, with a high
self-worth. Psychological health is now recognised as an
important aspect of the general health status. Likew ise,
self-esteem reflects their own worthiness. Researches
established that there is a close relationship between
mental health and self-esteem(2). Students with higher
mental health show better educational performance
(3)
.
Similarly, students with high self-esteem perform bet-
ter in examinations, as compared to those who have a
low self-esteem(4).
Li et al. (2010) investigated the relationships between
mental health, self-esteem and physical hea lth in Chinese
adolescents(5). This study examined the links between
mental health, self-esteem, and physical hea lth among
Chinese teenagers in Hong Kong. Chinese students
(N=1945), aged 12 to 19 years old, from four secondary
schools in different regions, were invited to par ticipate in
the research. The study found that a sig nificant number
of Hong Kong teenagers had depressive symptoms. The
overall results showed that adolescents’ self-esteem was
correlated with and was a predictor of their physical
and mental health. Health professionals should take a
more confident role in promoting community health
education, with an emphasis on helping adolescents
develop positive self-esteem. Yun (2016)
(2)
made a study
which was aimed at examining the relationship be-
tween self-esteem and mental health according to the
mindfulness of university students and to provide the
basic data for drawing up measures to improve mental
health by understanding and making use of mindful-
ness through the results.
Pernice (1997) investigated the employment attitudes
and mental hea lth of 161 long-term unemployed patients
with d isabilities, aged 17-60 years old
(6)
. Duri ng an inter-
view, the people were classified into four employment
attitude groups, those who wanted employment (28%),
those who were not able to work (35%), those who had
alternatives to employment (30%), and those who were
interested in training (7%). Mental health was assessed
using the General Health Questionnaire and the Rosen-
berg Self-esteem Scale. The resu lts indicated that menta l
health was low, with low self-esteem and high distress
scores of the groups.
Our g reat expectation of our e ducation system is to revea l
optimum ac ademic achievement. It is essentia l for teachers
and other educators t o ensure the m aximum ach ievement
of all students/youth enrolled in the education system.
On the other hand, everyone wants to be physically and
mentally healthy and to experience academic success.
Academic achievement often depends on many factors,
and mental hea lth can be considered one of the import ant
factors. A hea lthy individua l is not only physically he althy,
but also mentally healthy. This includes a sound eff icient
mind and controlled emotions.
Self-esteem is an important academic construct in the
educational process. It is considered one of the most im
-
portant factors in students’ learning outcomes. Research
shows that there is a close link between self-esteem
and student achievement. Ali Asghar Bayani (2009)
examined the relationship between self-confidence
and school performance among hig h school students(7).
The participants were 355 high school students from
Gorgan. The mea n age of the participants was 16.7 years
old (SD=4.58) and the age ranged from 15 to 19 years
old. There were 199 girls and 156 boys. A ll participants
completed a booklet of questionnaires that contained
two scales: the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
(8)
and a
test conducted by a teacher. The relationship between
self-esteem and school performance is significant and
positive (r=0.459). The self-esteem of the students is
significantly higher than that of the girls.
The modern complex world makes the life of youth
mentally restless. Therefore, the relationship between
mental healt h and self-esteem wit h academic achievement
is considered as a discreet and timely research work. T he
academic a chievement of youth is viewed as t he dependence
of mental health and self-esteem. Researchers have iden-
tified the factors influencing the academic achievement
(Figure 1). Studies ind icate that the academ ic achievement
of youths is associated with numerous demographic and
sociopsychological variables.
Method
Sample and sampling method
The sample population was selected from Sri Lankan
youths which comprise the age group of 16-24 years old.
Samples were colle cted from Ampara Di strict, which cover
up four relig ion groups and th ree ethnic groups. Pu rpo-
sive sampling was done due to the fact that academic
achievement was the main criterion in this research, and
516 respondents were selected for this study.
Research design
This is a n experimental study in which the researcher
has no control over the variables. The researcher objec-
tively reports what has happened or is happening. It is a
descriptive study in which the researcher measures the
variables involved in testi ng the hypotheses formulated.
Furthermore, this is a collaborative study that is often
used in psychology as a preliminary method for gather-
ing information on a topic or in situations where it is not
possible to perform an experiment. A part of the study
is a quantitative research method that examines two or
more variables f rom the same group of subjects and tr ies
to determine if there is a relationship (or covariance)
between the two or more variables.
research
Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023) 29
psihiatru
Demographic Variables Independent Variables Dependent Variables
Age
Gender
Sibling
Parent’s income
Type of family
Father’s education
Mother’s education
Locality
Mental Health
Self-Esteem
Academic Achievement
Description of the tools – administration of the
questionnaire
The questionna ire was admi nistered among the youth.
Demographic information schedule developed by the
research investigator to procure relevant demographic
information (namely, age, gender, religion, locality etc.)
was used. Students’ marks lists with average marks of
the youths at school, colleges and university were used
as a criterion for measuring the academic achievement
of youth. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale developed
by Rosenberg(9) is used to assess self-esteem. This scale
contains 10 statements with four responses: 1) “Strongly
disagree”, 2) “Disagree”, 3) “Agree”, and 4) “Strongly agree”.
The 10 statements are divided into two categories, posi-
tive and negative. The respondents are a sked to read the
statements ca refully and ma ke an appropriate response.
The reliability and validity of the mental health scale
are 0.92 and 0.77, respectively. The test was developed
and standardized by Verma et al., 2002(1 0). This tool was
used to measure the mental health of youths. This test
is helpful to screen the youth’s mental health. This sca le
consists of 60 st atements with three a lternative responses:
1) “Yes”, 2) “Indefinite”, and 3) “No”. The 60 statements
are divided into two categories. Thirty statements are
positive (1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30,
32, 35, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 50, 53, 55, 58, 59 and 60)
and the remaining are negative (3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16,
18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45, 47, 49, 51,
52, 54, 56 a nd 57). The respondents are asked to read the
statement carefully and give their responses. The test-
retest (interval of two months) and split-half reliability
coefficient were found to be 0.86 and 0.88, respectively.
The validity coefficient was calculated by comparing
the scale with mental health check list of Varma, and it
was found 0.79(10).
Reliability and validity of the scales
In a pre-try-out study, the two standardized tools
(namely, Mental health sca le and Rosenberg Self-Esteem
Scale) were administered to a random sample of 100
youth in Ampara district, Sri Lanka
(8)
. The reliability
of the scales was determined by the odd-even method
(split-half method). Pearson Product Moment Correla-
tion was employed to work out the correlation between
the odd and even the items of the scales. The correla-
tion coefficient values thus obtained were subjected to
Spearma n-Brown’s prophecy formula for the purpose of
finding the correlation coefficient for the entire scales.
This gave the reliability coefficient value for each scale.
Further, the validity coefficient values were worked out
from the reliability coefficient using the formula √r.
Both the reliability and validit y coefficient values were
subjected to ‘t ’ test separately. Its level of sign ificance was
fixed by employing the formula:
The reliability and validity were
done before the collection of data.
Method of data collection
In this research, both t he primar y and secondary met h-
ods of data col lection were adopted. The in formants were
contacted individually by the researcher. The booklets
comprising t he two standardized questionna ires (namely,
Mental Health Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale),
and the personal information schedule designed by the
researcher were given to each respondent following the
informed consent. The confidentiality of the responses
was assu red by the investigator. The data collection was
done approximately over a period of three month.
Method of scoring
Mental Health Scale. The Mental Health Scale con-
sists of 60 items; there are 30 positive and 30 negative
statements. Each statement is followed by three alterna-
tive responses, namely “Yes”, “Indefinite” and “No”. The
subject must choose only one alternative response. The
scheme of scoring is: for positive statements, a score of 2
for each “Yes” response, a score of 1 for “Indefinite”, and
0 for “No”, while for negative statements, the scores are
reversed, meaning a score of 2 for “No”, a score of 1 for
“Indefi nite”, and 0 for “Yes”. The min imum and maximum
possible scores of this scale are 0 and 120, respectively.
High scores indicate h igher mental health a nd vice versa .
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. This scale consists of
a total of 10 statements. There are positive and negative
statements. This is a 4-point scale. Each item is followed
by four responses, namely, “Strongly agree”, “Agree”,
“Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree.” For positive items,
the scores are 4 for “Strongly agree”, 3 for “Agree”, 2 for
“Disagree”, and 1 for “Strongly disagree”. For negative
items, the scores are reversed, meaning 1 for “Strongly
Figure 1. Research design
)1(
)2(
t
2
r
n
r
–
–
=
Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023)
30
agree, 2 for “Agree”, 3 for “Disagree”, and 4 for “Strongly
disagree”. The minimum and max imum possible scores
on this scale are 10 and 40, respectively. Higher scores
indicate h igher self-esteem, wh ile lower scores point out
to lower self-esteem.
Students mark li st. The marks l ist of the youths at school,
colleges and universities were obtained. The averages of
marks obt ained by the students in one ac ademic year were
considered as a criterion of academic achievement.
Data analysis
The data obtained were statistically analyzed, using
appropriate descr iptive and inferential techniques. The
descriptive statistics consisted of the frequenc y polygon
and graphic representations. The mean, standa rd devia-
tion, t-test, analysis of variance (A NOVA) and correlation
were the inferential statistics worked out.
Results
Demographic data
Data collection was done from various institutes and
South Easter n University, ran ked as number one. Adda-
laichenai Col lege of Education ranked number t wo, being
one of the best schools in the town. Also, in this st udy we
have not forgotten small schools as well, a nd we collected
around 20 samples from each school, the total number
of samples collected being 516.
Regarding the distribution of the sample based on
respondents’ gender, out of 516 youths, there were 231
males (44.7%) and 285 females (55.2%). Thus, the majority
of the respondents were females. Regarding the respond-
ents age, out of 516 subjects, 203 (39.4%) were 16-18 years
old, 154 (29.8%) of the youths were 19-21 years old, and
159 (30.8%) were 22-24 years old. Thus, the majority of
the respondents were 16-18 years old. Regarding the
distribution of the sample according to siblings, out of
516 respondents, 480 (93%) youths had brothers or sisters,
and only 36 (7%) respondents were single children. Thus,
most of the respondents had siblings.
The parents’ income of the respondents was measured
and, out of 516 youths, in 248 of cases (48%) the parents’
income was below 15,000 Rupees, in 174 of the youths
(33.7%) the parents’ income was between 15,000 and
30, 0000 Rupees, and in 94 cases (18.2%) the parents’
income was above 30,000 Rupees. Thus, in the major-
ity of the respondents, the parents’ income was below
15,000 Rupees (1 Sri Lankan Rupee = 0.0058 USD). Table
1 presents the distribution of the sample on the basis of
respondents’ ty pe of family and, out of 516 respondents,
355 (68.8%) were from nuclear families, 134 (25.9%) of the
respondents belonged to joint families, and 27 (5.2%) of
the youths came f rom broken families. Thus, the majority
of the respondents were from nuclear families. Regard-
ing the distribution of the sample on the ba sis of youths’
Variables
Subvariables
No. of respondents
Percentage
Gender
Male
231
44.7%
Female 285 55.2%
Age in years
16-18
203
39.4%
19-21
154
29.8%
22-24
159
30.8%
Siblings
Brothers and sister s
480
93%
Single
36
7%
Parent’s income
in Rupees
Below 15 000 248 48%
15 000-30 000
174
33.7%
Above 30 000
94
18.2%
Type of family
Nuclear
355
68.8%
Joint
134
25.9%
Broken (divorced)
27
5.2%
Father’s education
Degree (U.G) & above 66 12.8%
Advanced level
175
33.9%
Ordinary level
220
42.6%
5
th
and below
55
10.6%
Mother’s education
Degree (U.G.) and above
31
6%
Advanced level
124
24%
Ordinary level 228 44%
5
th
and below
133
25.7%
Locality
Rural
307
59.5%
Urban
209
40.5%
Summary of demographic data
Table 1
research
Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023) 31
psihiatru
father educational qualification, out of 516 subjects, in
66 cases (12.8%) the youths’ fathers had a graduate level
and above, 175 (33.9%) of the youths’ fathers had an ad-
vanced level of education (A/L), 220 fathers (42.6%) had
the elementary level, and 55 fathers (10.6%) had a grade
5 level of education. Thus, most of respondents’ fathers
had only the elementa ry level of education. Regard ing the
distribution of the sample on the basis of respondents’
mother educational qualif ication, out of 516 subjects, 31
(6%) of the youths’ mothers had a graduate educational
level and above, 124 (24%) of the youths’ mothers had an
advanced level (A/L), 228 (44%) mothers had the elemen-
tary level, and 133 (25.7%) mothers had a grade 5 level of
education. Thus, most of respondents’ mothers had only
the elementary level of education. Table 1 presents the
distr ibution of the sample based on respondents’ residence
environment (locality). Out of 516 youths, 307 (59.5%)
were from rural areas and 209 (40.5%) were from urban
areas. Thus, most respondents were from rural areas.
The purpose of this ana lysis is to find out the interde-
pendence of each of the two variables on one another.
The interdependence between variables is discussed
below. Mental health is positively and significantly re-
lated to self-esteem (0.512), and there is a positive and
signi ficant correlation bet ween the variables. Therefore,
it is concluded that there is a significant relationship
between mental health and self-esteem of the youths.
Hence, the stated hypothesis that there is significant
relationship between mental health and self-esteem is
accepted (Table 2).
The purpose of this ana lysis is to find out the interde-
pendence of each of the two v ariables on one another. The
Mental health for demographic variables
Self-esteem for demographic variables
Correlations
Table 3
Table 4
Table 2
Correlation
Value
Correlation betwe en mental health and self-esteem
0.512**
Correlation betwe en mental health and academic
achievement
0.259**
Correlation betwe en self-esteem and academic
achievement
0.158**
Step/source
Cumulative R
2
DR
2
Step t
P
Type of family
0.030
0.028
3.447
0.01
Locality 0.061 0.056 3.111 0.01
Parents income
0.070
0.062
2.172
0.05
P < 0.01; constant value = 8 8.655
Step/source
Cumulative R
2
DR
2
Step t
P
Locality
0.013
0.011
2.438
0.01
Type of family 0.022 0.018 2.247 0.05
P < 0.01; constant value = 30 .566
interdependence between variables is discussed below.
Mental health is positively and significantly related to
academic achievement (0.259), and here there is a posi-
tive and significant correlation between the variables.
Therefore, it is concluded that t here is a significant rela-
tionship between mental health and academic achieve-
ment of the youths. Hence, the stated hypothesis that
there is significant relationship between mental health
and academic achievement is accepted.
Self-esteem is positively and significantly related to
academic a chievement (0.158), and there is a positive and
signi ficant correlation bet ween the variables. Therefore,
it is concluded that there is a significant relationship
between self-esteem and the academic achievement of
youths. Hence, the stated hypothesis that there is sig-
nif icant relationship between self-esteem and academic
achievement is accepted.
Table 3 shows the results of regression analysis, such
as cumulative R2, DR2, step t and p value of the mental
health of youths with demographic variables. An at-
tempt was made to find out whether the demographic
variables would be possible predictors of mental health
of youths. The results indicate that the three variables
(namely, type of fam ily, locality and pa rents’ income) are
significant in predicting the mental health. The “type
of family” predicts mental health to an extent of 0.030
which is found to be statistically significant at the 0.01
level; “locality” predicts mental health to an extent of
0.061 which is found to be statistica lly signif icant at the
0.01 level; and “parent’s income” predicts mental health
to an extent of 0.070 which is found to be statistically
significant at the 0.05 level (Table 3).
Table 4 shows the results of regression analysis, such
as cumulative R2, DR2, step t and p value of self-esteem
of youths with demographic variables. It was also at-
tempted to find out whether the demographic variables
would be possible predictors of self-esteem of youths. The
results indicate that the two variables (namely, locality
and ty pe of family) are significant in predicting the self-
esteem. “Locality” predicts self-esteem to an extent of
0.013 which is found to be statistically significant at the
0.01 level. The second variable, “ty pe of family” predicts
self-esteem to an extent of 0.022 which is found to be
statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Overall, the
outcomes reveal that, out of eight demograph ic variables,
only two demographic variables emerged as predictors
of youths’ self-esteem (Table 4).
Discussion
This research is an empirical effort done to assess the
relationship between mental health and self-esteem
with academic achievement. Further, it tries to find the
inf luence of demographic variables, such as age, gender,
siblings, level of father’s and mother’s education, parents’
income, type of family and locality, on mental health,
self-esteem and academic achievement.
This investigation was conducted from a purposive
sample of 516 youths in Ampara district of Sri Lanka.
The age range of the participants was 16-24 years old
Anul XIX • Nr. 73 (2/2023)
32
(mean age: 19.2 years old). The participants were from
six schools, f ive colleges and one university. The organi-
zations for sample selection were only the educational
institutions in the Amparai district of Sri Lanka. In this
study two standardized scales (namely, Mental Health
Scale developed by Verma et al.(10) and the Self-Esteem
Scale developed by Rosenberg(8)) were used to measure
mental health and self-esteem, respectively.
In this study, the correlation coefficient was worked
out in order to understand the relationship between
mental health and self-esteem. The results indicate that
mental health is positively correlated with self-esteem
(Table 1) which portrays that increase in mental health
leads to increase in self-esteem, and vice versa, among
youths. The present findings are supported by earlier
research that revealed a positive relationship between
mental health and self-esteem
(2)
. It was proven that there
was a significant, positive correlation between mental
health and self-esteem. Li et al.(5) found that self-esteem
of adolescents was cor related to and a predictor of their
physical and mental health. Rafati et a l.
(11)
, Zimmerman
(12)
and Pernice(6) also showed the positive correlation be-
tween mental health and self-esteem.
Mental health and academic achievement
In this study, the correlation coef ficient was worked out
in order to understand the relationship between mental
health and academic achievement. The results indicate
that mental health is positivel y correlated with ac ademic
achievement (Table 2). The research find ing is supported
by previous st udies by Talawar and Das
(13)
who found a sig-
nif icant relationship bet ween mental health and a cademic
achievement. A kbar et al.(14) revealed the mutual correla-
tion between mental health and academic performance
which is also affected by mental health issues. Roberts
et al.(1 5) also found that there was a positive relationship
between mental health and achievement among youths.
Self-esteem and academic achievement
In this study, the correlation coefficient was worked
out in order to understand the relationship between
self-esteem and academic achievement. The results
indicate that mental health is positively correlated with
self-esteem (Table 3). This result can be supported by
previous researches by Ar yana(16) who demonstrated that
students with positive self-esteem have high academic
performance. Earlier empirical obser vation by Bayani(17 )
confi rmed that the correlation between self-esteem and
academic a chievement is meaning ful and positive. Naderi
et al.
(18)
also found a significant relationship between
self-esteem and academic performance. Rosli et al.
(19)
revealed in their study that there was a positive correla-
tion between self-esteem and academic achievement.
Conclusions
Our study found that there is a positive correlation be-
tween menta l health and self-esteem, mental health a nd
academic achievement, and self-esteem and academic
achievement. Therefore, it is crucial to improve mental
health and sel f-esteem in order to en hance the academic
outcome. This is especially vital in a developing countr y
like Sr i Lanka. Fu rthermore, some demographic va riables
also have a relat ionship with mental health, self-esteem
and academic achievement. n
Limitations. The sample collection is not an easy
task due to the language and distance barrier.
Acknowledgement. Authors would like to acknowl-
edge the participants of the study.
Statement of contribution: M.F. – idea inception,
data collection and planning; M.M.M. – analysis and
planning of the study; F.M.M.T. – planning and writ-
ing the manuscript.
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References
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CONFLICT OF INTERESTS: none declared.
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