The Roles of Self-Esteem and the Sense of Personal Control in the Academic Achievement Process

This article proposes that academic achievement boosts self-esteem and the sense of personal control, but that only the latter influences subsequent academic achievement. Most previous research on adolescent self-concept has included self-esteem or, less commonly, the sense of personal control, but not both. Using three waves of panel data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, the authors examined the effects of academic achievement in the 8th grade on the sense of personal control and self-esteem in the 10th grade and the subsequent effects of control and esteem in the 10th grade on academic achievement in the 12th grade. They present evidence that the sense of personal control affects subsequent academic achievement, but that self-esteem does not. Earlier academic achievement and parental support increase self-esteem and the sense of personal control. Although the authors expected that achievement would have a larger effect on personal control and that parental support would have a larger effect on self-esteem, they found evidence for the former but not for the latter