The Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement Among Addis Ababa University Undergraduate Psychology Students

The main purpose of the study was is to examine the relationship between self-esteem, gender, and academic achievement among Addis Ababa University Undergraduate psychology students. The study was conducted on 100 second and third year psychology students those gave their written consent. The pertinent data were collected by using Rosenberg self –esteem scale and the students’ cumulative average grade point. The collected data were analyzed via independent T-tests, one way ANNOVA and Pearson correlation at alpha level 0.05. The analysis result shows that there is statistically significant mean difference between self-esteem and mother and father education level (with p-value=0.030 and 0.001for father and mother education level, respectively). The mean self-esteem score of students whose families are illiterate is greater than those students who came from college and above educated family. The mean self-esteem score of male students was higher than the mean score of female students (p-value <0.0001; Mean = 21.32 and 18.16 for male and female, respectively). However, there is no statistical significant difference between self-esteem academic achievement as well as place of residence. The study recommends that future studies should put effort to measure the significant relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement by including more variables, increasing the number of participants and by using longitudinal study design. Keywords: Academic achievement, self esteem DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-4-03