In plain language
Many educators treat it as settled fact that self-esteem and academic achievement go hand in hand, and this belief is often used in debates about whether gifted students should be grouped together in selective classes or schools. But is the assumption actually true for high-ability students? This study put it to the test using data from the Wollongong Youth Study, a longitudinal project tracking over 900 adolescents in the Wollongong Catholic Diocese from Year 7 onward.
The researchers identified a high-ability sample — the top 10% of students on standardised literacy (ELLA) and numeracy (SNAP) tests taken in Year 7 — yielding 65 students after accounting for missing data. Students completed the widely used Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in Years 7 and 8, and their end-of-year grades across all subjects were collected and averaged.
The results challenged the popular belief on two fronts. Gifted students’ self-esteem was no different from that of their non-gifted peers, and, more provocatively, there was no correlation at all between self-esteem and grades within the gifted group. The authors conclude that popular arguments invoking self-esteem for or against ability grouping — and school programs that try to fix academic underachievement simply by boosting self-esteem — rest on belief rather than evidence, and that the path to reversing underachievement is more complex than a one-pronged approach.
Key findings
- Gifted students (mean self-esteem .745) did not differ significantly in self-esteem from non-gifted students (mean .781).
- There was no significant correlation between self-esteem and academic grades for the gifted group (r = .020, ns).
- A small self-esteem–grades correlation in the non-gifted group was likely an artefact of the large sample size rather than a meaningful effect.
- The findings undercut the academic side of arguments that invoke self-esteem for or against ability grouping of gifted students.
- The results challenge the widespread use of self-esteem enhancement programs as a remedy for academic underachievement in schools.
- The high-ability sample (top 10% on ELLA and SNAP tests; n = 65) was drawn from a representative longitudinal cohort of over 900 adolescents.
How to cite
APA
Vialle, W., Heaven, P. C. L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2005). The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in high ability students: Evidence from the Wollongong Youth Study. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 14(2), 39–45.
BibTeX
@article{vialle2005relationship,
title = {The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in high ability students: Evidence from the Wollongong Youth Study},
author = {Vialle, Wilma and Heaven, Patrick C. L. and Ciarrochi, Joseph},
journal = {Australasian Journal of Gifted Education},
year = {2005},
volume = {14},
number = {2},
pages = {39--45}
}
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Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version.