Analysis of Students’ Self-Esteem and Academic Performance of Physics Students in Senior Secondary Schools in Port-Harcourt Local Government Area

Abstract

The study critically examined the influence self-esteem on students’ academic performance in physics in senior secondary schools in Port-Harcourt Local Government Area. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of self-esteem on the academic performance of students with respect to gender. Three research questions and one hypothesis were posed to guide the study to find out the relationship between students’ self-esteem and their academic achievement. The instruments used for the study include a standardized questionnaire developed by Rosenberg (1965), titled “Rosenberg self esteem scale”, and Physics Achievement Test (PAT) developed by the researcher. This test comprised 50 multiple choice questions which cover subjects from SSS1 to SSS3. The PAT was subjected to a validation process and the reliability coefficient obtained was 0.88 through Kuder-Richardson 21. The findings of the study showed that 68 percent of the respondents have low self-esteem while 32 percent are high self-esteemed students. The mean difference (10.04) showed that students with low self-esteem performed poorly compared to students with high self-esteem. The hypothesis revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between the two variables under study, that is students’ self-esteem and their academic performance in physics. The study recommended that physics teachers should recognize the level of each of the students’ self-esteem. Teachers should also allocate time to raise the level of students’ self confidence before teaching difficult topics in Physics.