The Indirect Roles of Self-Criticism and Self-Reassurance in the Association Between Academic Stress and Self-Esteem

This study examined the associations among academic stress, self-esteem, self-critical and self-reassuring processes, and perceived parental expectations in university students, with particular attention to the indirect associations of academic stress with self-esteem through Inadequate Self, Hated Self, and Reassured Self. The sample consisted of 400 university students aged 17-30 years (M = 22.13, SD = 2.90). Participants completed measures of perceived academic stress, parental expectations, self-esteem, and self-criticism/self-reassurance. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, multivariate analysis of variance, hierarchical multiple regression, and parallel mediation analysis. Greater academic stress was associated with lower self-esteem, higher Inadequate Self and Hated Self, and lower Reassured Self. Perceived parental expectations were positively associated with academic stress but were not significantly associated with self-esteem. Inadequate Self, Reassured Self, and Hated Self were significantly associated with self-esteem in the final regression model, accounting for 53.0% of the variance together with the other predictors. Parallel mediation analysis showed significant indirect associations through all three self-relating dimensions, while the direct association between academic stress and self-esteem was no longer statistically significant. These findings highlight self-critical and self-reassuring processes as important psychological correlates in the association between academic stress and global self-evaluation.