Self-esteem and academic achievement: a comparative study of adolescent students in England and the United States.
Utilizing mixed methodology, this paper investigates the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement for young adolescents within two Western cultural contexts: the United States and England. Quantitative and qualitative data from 86 North American and 86 British adolescents were utilized to examine the links between self-esteem and academic achievement from the beginning to the end of their academic year during their 11th-12th year of age. For both samples, quantitative results demonstrated that fall self-esteem was related to multiple indicators of later year academic achievement. While country differences emerge by the end of the year, math appears to have a consistent relationship with self-esteem in both country contexts. Qualitative analyses found some support for British students' self-perceptions as more accurately reflecting their academic experience than the students from the United States.
School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Margaret Zoller
MZ
Booth
Jean M
JM
Gerard
England; United States; academic achievement; early adolescence; self-esteem