Self Efficacy, Self Esteem & its Effect on Academic Performance
Ryan Dixon
Tennessee State University

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between self-esteem, self efficacy and academic performance. In order to resolve the ongoing argument about the relationship between self-efficacy, self-esteem and its effect on academic performance among a sample of 30 college students. The participants completed surveys about their academic performance, their self-esteem which will be on a Likert’s scale ranging from 1 to 5, and a self-efficacy survey rating how competent they believe they are when it comes to academics. The correlation results will show a major relationship between self-efficacy, self esteem, and academic performance.

There is a lot of research that has been done about self esteem, self efficacy and academic performance. Self-efficacy can be defined as the levels of confidence individuals have in their ability to execute certain courses of action, or achieve specific outcomes (Bandura, 1977, 1982, 1997). Self-esteem refers to an individual’s sense of value or self-worth, or the extent to which people value, appreciate or like themselves (Bandura 1977, 1982, 1997). Every study seems to think that self esteem, self efficacy and academic performance are correlated. They believe that if you have high self esteem that you will have a drive to be more self efficient which will result in good academic performance. Self esteem is a term that is mainly used in the psychological field to show a person’s assessment of his or her self worth. It was assumed that a student’s self esteem is very critical to the grades they earn throughout their matriculation. High self esteem may or may not be a factor in academic success but one will have high self esteem when he/she does well academically.
Some of the journals say things like “building self-esteem is not a secondary luxury option in the schools’ programs, but is more of a basic component of programs geared to motivate learning…Self-esteem is not something separate from school performance in reading, math, and social and physical skills. It is an important, integral part of performance” (Bayami, pg. 1). They seem to believe that there is a direct relationship between self esteem, self efficacy and academic performance. Every study that has been done on this topic thought that the variables may have been directly related. Most of them were also done over a period of weeks or even months and found that academic success bought high self esteem instead of the other way around. They also found that self efficacy does enhance academic performance. The more self efficient you are the harder you will work which will ultimately result in success. A person’s overall success depends on how proficient they are.
Self esteem is how an individual feels about himself and how the appreciation of worth and importance. Your self-worth comes from an attitude about how you value yourself as a person. How you value yourself as a person comes from how you see your purpose in life, how successful you want to be, strength, weakness, and social status. Self esteem comes from how confident you are in yourself and that usually comes from experiences of personal success.
Generally there is a close relation to self esteem, self efficacy and academic success. There is disagreement about how close that relationship actually is. Some believe that in order to have positive self esteem you have to do well in school and others believe that you first have to have positive self esteem to do well in school. Covington (1989) reported that as the level of self-esteem increases, so do achievement scores; as self-esteem decreases, achievement scores decline. He also thought that self esteem could be customized through instruction and that instruction should lead to achievement gains. In all, there is a major