Academic Integration, Academic Performance, and Retrospective Evaluations of Own Performance

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined the relationships among students' global self-esteem, academic integration, expectations of own academic performance, and actual academic performance over the period of one academic year. The participants, recruited through opportunity sampling, were first and second year Northern Irish university undergraduates studying psychology (N = 63). Neither global self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), nor student academic integration predicted subsequent academic performance in examinations and coursework. Examination and coursework marks achieved in the first semester of an academic year did not predict subsequent changes in global self-esteem assessed again in the second semester. Examination marks achieved in the first semester significantly negatively predicted subsequent self-evaluations of academic performance (r = -0.49, p < 0.001), and these in turn were associated with subsequent academic performance in the second semester (r = -0.40, p < 0.001). Self-esteem and academic integration remained stable over the period of an academic year amongst first year students, but second year students reported a decline in self-esteem scores despite no significant changes to their examination or coursework marks. The decline in self-esteem was associated with a decline in academic integration with course (r = 0.42, p < 0.001). The results of this study are generally consistent with a review by Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, and Vohs (2005) which claimed that higher levels of global self-esteem do not necessarily lead to increased academic performance.