An investigation of self-esteem and school achievement of Taiwanese secondary students (China, Chinese text).

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigated factors related to Taiwanese senior high school students' self-esteem. A total of 1672 students (779 boys, 893 girls) in Kaohsiung City in Taiwan completed a Chinese version of the Secondary Student Questionnaire (SSQ). Additionally, the investigator individually interviewed 6 of the students from 3 different academic schools (high, moderate and low) in order to determine whether their paper and pencil responses were consistent with their actual perceptions.
Results revealed 10 major findings: (1) High academic school students' self-esteem scores were significantly higher than either their moderate or low academic school counterparts; (2) Moderate GPA students' self-esteem scores were significantly higher than the low GPA students; (3) The self-esteem scores of students from families with permissive parenting practice were significantly higher than those of students from families with authoritarian parenting practices; (4) The high depression students' self-esteem scores were significantly lower than students with either moderate or low depression; (5) The high anxiety students' self-esteem scores were significantly lower than students with either moderate or low anxiety; (6) Students with high personality and satisfaction with non-academic performance scores had significantly higher self-esteem scores than their counterparts, the students with moderate personality and satisfaction scores had significantly higher self-esteem scores than those with low personality and satisfaction scores; (7) There were significant gender differences for the variables of grade, parenting practices, self expected degree levels, parental expectation for child's degree levels, stereotypic thinking, depression, anxiety, mothers' educational level, and the self-esteem Lie Scales; (8) The significant predictors of self-esteem for the total sample were depression, personality and satisfaction with non-academic performance at school, parenting practices, GPA, monthly family income, and anxiety; (9) The significant predictors for high academic achievement and low self-esteem (HALS) students' self-esteem were depression and personality and satisfaction with non-academic performance at school; (10) The significant predictors for low academic achievement and high self-esteem (LAHS) students' self-esteem were personality and satisfaction with non-academic performance at school and parenting practices. Results hopefully contribute to further development of self-esteem theory, and to theories of Taiwanese adolescent personality development. Strategies for increasing students' self-esteem are suggested.