Running head: ADOLESCENT SELF-ESTEEM 1

The Impact of Adolescent Self-Esteem on Academic Achievement: Helpful or Harmful?

Eden Whitehead

Brigham Young University-Idaho

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The Impact of Adolescent Self-Esteem on Academic Achievement: Helpful or Harmful?

It has recently become a widely touted belief that as long as an individual has a high level

of self-esteem, that success will consequently follow for that person. Surely, if a student is given

enough positive reinforcement about what a good student they are, they will naturally become a

good student, regardless of the amount and quality of teaching they receive in more academic

subjects. Two recent studies about the effects of self-esteem on academic achievement in

adolescents examine why this popular belief is not supported by research. In fact, they show that

quite the opposite may be true. Examples from adolescent development theories will also be

examined as a way to support the findings of these research articles.

Article 1

In the article: Too Much of a Good Thing? Self-Esteem and Latinx Immigrant Youth

Academic Achievement, the reality is explored that focusing on self-esteem can cause students to

block out any constructive criticism or beneficial feedback (Lew & Harklau, 2018). They

provide the example that a specific teenager, Ricardo, achieved grades significantly below his

ability level out of an aversion to doing anything challenging that would compromise his positive

view of himself (Lew et al., 2018). Teachers in this study were also found to be giving overly

positive praise that was inconsistent with the lower quality of products being graded (Lew et al.,

2018). This was found to instill false senses of security in teens that also inhibited them from

reaching their own personal goals for their futures (Lew et al., 2018). In this way, focusing on

self-esteem can inhibit academic performance by blinding the student to their academic reality

until it is too late to make corrections. These findings support the research of the second article to

be explored.
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Article 2

Development in multiple areas of life in adolescence: Interrelations between academic

achievement, perceived peer acceptance, and self-esteem is an article that explores the effect of

self-esteem on many areas of adolescent life, including academics (Tetzner, Becker, & Maaz,

2017). Over the course of their study, the researchers were surprised to find that self-esteem was

not a predictor of academic success (Tetzner et al., 2017). Conversely, what the data showed was

that academic success was the predictor for self-esteem (Tetzner et al., 2017). The natural

conclusion from this finding is that if teachers focus on helping students become academically

competent, then self-esteem will follow. Unfortunately, this has not recently been the case.

The article Nation of Wimps from Psychology Today explains what happens when

adolescents have been given more self-esteem preening than actual academic challenges,

College, it seems, is where the fragility factor is now making its greatest mark. It's where

intellectual and developmental tracks converge as the emotional training wheels come

off. By all accounts, psychological distress is rampant on college campuses. It takes a

variety of forms, including anxiety and depression (Marano, 2004).

Thus we see that building up an adolescent’s self-esteem at the expense of helping them grow

through difficult challenges is ultimately setting our teenagers up for failure come post high

school graduation time.

Adolescent Development

During adolescence, the teenage brain is undergoing a vast array of changes (McCoy,

2018). The neurons in the brain are being stimulated in some areas as they are exercised, and cut

back in others where no stimulation occurs (McCoy, 2018). For adolescents to retain those
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neurons that will help them academically, they need to be exercised and challenged so the brain

sees a need to keep them. For their own sakes adolescents cannot be allowed to rest on the

haunches of “if I feel good I will do well.”

The self-esteem movement can also suppress the healthy development of idealism.

Idealism is the realization that teenagers come to that the world, and individuals are not as

perfect as they seem (McCoy, 2018). This realization helps them develop accurate views of the

world, and to see possible short comings in themselves that they can work to correct. If an

adolescent never looks at themselves or others in a critical light, they will never be able to

progress beyond their current level of maturity towards positive change.

Self-esteem can be positive if it is backed up by a certain level of self-efficacy. Self-

efficacy is the ability and competence to perform, whether that be academically or otherwise

(McCoy, 2018). If a student has actual skills that have been acquired through diligence and hard

work, their self-esteem will only propel them forward. However, if self-esteem is not backed-up

by actual competence, then self-esteem is shattered when adolescents are eventually confronted

with situations and tasks they are not actually prepared for, but were led to believe they were.

Conclusion

Self-esteem is a great quality to have when it comes as a by-product of hard work and

personal achievement. However, making it into the proverbial cart before the horse will only be

detrimental to students’ academic achievement. Engendering high self-esteem at the expense of

being realistic with students and helping them strive academically inhibits success. Let us focus

on helping students acquire the skills they need to perform well, so that they can have an

authentic positive self-view.

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References

Marano, H. (2004). A nation of wimps. Psychology Today, 37(6), 61-71.

McCoy, J. K. (2018, Fall). Adolescent Development (Lecture notes). Rexburg, Idaho: Brigham

Young University-Idaho.

Lew, S., & Harklau, L. (2018). Too much of a good thing? self-esteem and latinx immigrant

youth academic achievement. Journal of Advanced Academics, 29(3), 171-194.

doi:10.1177/1932202X18760280

Tetzner, J., Becker, M., & Maaz, K. (2017). Development in multiple areas of life in

adolescence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41(6), 704-713.

doi:10.1177/0165025416664432