A Study on the Self Esteem and Academic Performance among the Students

Abstract

The purpose of self-esteem is to feel and imagine that people nurtured in their mind over time about their self. In simple words, self-esteem is self-assessment; this perception and evaluation can be positive or negative and pleasant or unpleasant. Children with high self esteem, usually feel good about themselves and better able to resolve their conflicts with other children and are resistant to deal with problems. One of the most important human traits to achieve objectives is self-esteem. The term self-esteem means “reverence for self”. The “self” pertains to the values, beliefs, and attitudes that we hold about ourselves. Having a strong will and self-confidence, decision-making power and originality, creativity, sanity and mental health is directly related to self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It also refers to an individual’s sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. During childhood, if individual’s feelings are respected, thoughts valued and abilities recognized then self-esteem strengthens. When feelings are trampled upon, thoughts belittled and ability criticized then the individual’s self-esteem remains at a low point of development and is therefore weak. During the course of time, an individual faces many life situations. Depending upon the success or failure and one's reaction to every significant situation in life, self–esteem grows stronger or gets considerably weakened Self-esteem is described as the evaluation that one makes about oneself, based on one's self-worth. Increases and decreases in self-esteem generally bring strong emotional reactions. Self-esteem and academic performance are interrelated factors. This study tries to bring the connectivity between academic performance and the self-esteem. The main aim of the study is to know the level of self-esteem of the students with low academic performance. The objectives of this study are to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement, to understand the Socio-Economic background, to assess the level of self-esteem, and to know what could be the reason for low academic performance in spite of having high self-esteem. The research design used for the study would be descriptive in nature