Psychoeducational Correlates of Achievement for High School Seniors at a Private School: TheRelationship among Locus of Control, Self-Esteem, Academic Achievement, and AcademicSelf-EsteemAuthor(s): Carrie Leah Smith, Marty Sapp, Walter C. Farrell, Jr. and James H. Johnson, Jr.Source: The High School Journal, Vol. 81, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1998), pp. 161-166Published by: University of North Carolina PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40364517 .

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Psychoeducational Correlates of Achievement for High School Seniors

at a Private School: the Relationship Among Locus of Control, Self-Esteem, Academic

Achievement, and Academic Self-Esteem

Carrie Leah Smith Marty Sapp

Walter C. Farrell, Jr. Universtiy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

James H. Johnson, Jr. Universtiy of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Abstract This study investigated the relationships among psychoeducational variables, including self- esteem, locus of control, academic self-esteem, and academic achievement, in a group of 35 high school seniors from a private Catholic high school. Assessment instruments included the Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, the Brookover Self-Concept of Academic Ability Scale, and the Rotter Internal/External Locus of Control Scale. Cumulative grade records were used to measure academic achievement. Pearson's r correlation coefficients were calculated between measures of (1) locus of control and self-esteem, (2) locus of control and academic self-esteem, (3) locus of control and academic achievement, (4) self-esteem and academic self-esteem, (5) self-esteem and academic achievement, and (6) academic self- esteem and academic achievement. These findings revealed that academic self-esteem was positively related to academic achievement (r = .72, p < .005), and that locus of control was negatively related to self-esteem (r = -.338, p < .05); the results suggest that students' perception of their academic ability is a predictor of academic performance. In addition, students with an external locus of control orientation may have lower self-esteem.

Introduction For most Catholic high school seniors, the last year of school involves making decisions about future education and/or work. How a student views self and the environment around him or her may have significant consequences on academic achievement, goal setting, and persistence in working towards goals. Locus of control orientation, or the perception of being in control of environmental events or at the mercy of external forces, may influence feelings about self in relation to the environment. Coppersmith (1984) suggested that self- esteem could be considered as an initiator of human behavior. With all the research describing high school students, psychoeducational variables such as self- esteem, academic self- esteem, and locus of control are expected to be significantly correlated with achievement (Sapp, 1990a).

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The High School Journal- February 1998/March 1998

Locus of control is the extent to which a student perceives himself or herself to be in control of environmental events (internal locus of control orientation) or at the mercy of external forces (external locus of control orientation); as measured by the Rotter Internal/External Locus of Control Scale. Self-esteem is a feeling of acceptance or self-respect that a student has for himself or herself, as measured by the Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Academic self-esteem is a feeling about one's own academic performance and ability, as measured by the Brookover Self-Concept of Academic Ability Scale. Academic achievement is knowledge and skills developed in school subjects, and was measured by cumulative grade point average (GPA) recorded on a 4.0 scale.

Sapp, Farrell, and Durand (1995) and Farrell, Sapp, Johnson, and Pollard (1994) found that variables such as academic achievement, general self-esteem; academic self-esteem, and locus of control are related. Academic achievement, measured by cumulative grade point average, may be an indicator of high or low self-esteem. Research has shown that there is a strong positive relationship between academic self-esteem and academic achievement (Sapp, 1990b; Thompson, 1993). Results from Slavin (1987) showed that academic self-esteem and general self-esteem are correlated with academic performance. Moreover, research has affirmed the relationship between general self-esteem and academic achievement. For example, self- esteem has been revealed to be the primary ingredient related to the self that determines the quality of one's school output. This conclusion was supported by Sears and Sherman (1964) who indicated that a child's self-esteem plays a major role in determining success in school and in interactions with the world. Bodwin and Bruck (1962) and Brookover, Thomas, andPatterson (1964) found that children with higher self-esteem have greater academic achievement than those with lower levels of self-esteem). Self-esteem has been found consistently to correlate positively with academic achievement (Baker, Beer, &

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Beer, 1991; Wylie, 1979). Studies of adolescents have shown that a significant relationship exists between an internal locus of control orientation, or the view that success or failure is contingent on one's ownbehavior, and academic achievement (Findley & Cooper, 1983; Kopera-Frye, 1991). Kopera-Frye (1991) concluded that having a external locus of control, or the view that success or failure is independent of one's own behavior, is negatively related to school achievement. Forsyth and McMillan (1981) and Ramanaiah and Adam (1981), who have documented students' perceptions of the attribution of academic achievement, found that those who are successful in school attribute high grades to internal causes; in contrast, those who are not successful academically attribute low grades to external causes. Benson et al. (1994) found that when academic performance rose, locus of control was internal and self-esteem increased, suggesting that each was related to teach other. Downs and Rose (1991) also established an association between an external locus of control, low self-esteem, and poor academic achievement.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychoeducational variables that correlate with achievement in a group of high school seniors attending a private Catholic school. Few empirical studies on this topic were found in data-based computer searches. Six research hypotheses were tested; they are listed below in serial order.

Hypothesis 1: There will be a significant relationship between locus of control and general self-esteem. Hypothesis 2: There will be a significant relationship between locus of control and academic self-esteem. Hypothesis 3: There will be a significant relationship between locus of control and academic achievement. Hypothesis 4: There will be a significant relationship between academic self-esteem and general self-esteem. Hypothesis 5: There will be a significant

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Psychoeducational Correlates of Achievement for Private School Seniors

relationship between academic self-esteem and academic achievement. Hypothisis 6: There will be a significant relationship between general self-esteem and academic achievement.

Method Subjects. Thirty-five high school seniors from a private Catholic high school in a large metropolitan area in the Midwest served as voluntary participants. The group was comprised of 17 males and 18 females, all of whom were 17 or 18 years of age. Signed consent was obtained from all participants, as well as parental consent for all students who were minors.

Thirty-one of the participants reported that they were immediately going on to some type of postsecondary education. The four who were not going on to school were males. The school atmosphere, which participants experienced on a daily basis, was academically oriented, required homework, and encouraged students to take advanced coursework.

Instruments. Participants were measured on four dependent variables: (1) the Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory Adult Form, (2) the Brookover Self-Concept of Academic Ability Scale (Brookover), (3) the Rotter Internal/ External Locus of Control Scale (Rotter), and (4) cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale. The Coopersmith Inventory is a 25-item true-false instrument that measures self-evaluative attitudes in social, academic, family, and personal areas of experience. With the SEI, the extent to which people view themselves as competent, successful, significant, and worthy can be measured. Scores on the Inventory range from 0 (very poor self-concept) to 100 (very positive self-concept). Bedeian, Geagud, and Zmud (1977) reported Kuder- Richardson 20 estimates of reliability exceeding .70 for the short form.

The Brookover Scale was used to measure participants' academic self-concept. It is an eight-item scale that uses a multiple-choice format. Scores on the Brookover Scale range from 0 (very poor academic self-concept) to 40 (very positive self-concept). Banks (1984) obtained an internal consistency reliability

(Cronbach's alpha) of .77 on this instrument.

The Rotter Scale was used to measure participants' locus of control orientation. It consists of 23 forced-choice items and 6 fillers. Higher scores are toward an external orientation, whereas lower scores are toward an internal orientation. In terms of reliability, DeBrabander and Boone (1990) reported Cronbach's Coefficient alpha of .56 for females and .73 for males.

The GPA was obtained from official school records at the end of the first semester of the participants' senior year. All grades were reported ona4.0 scale: 0-1. 0=F, 1.0-1. 9=D, 2.0- 2.9 = C, 3.0-3.9 = B, and 4.0 = A.

Procedures. This study was introduced to the senior class during their homeroom period. During that time, the purpose of the study-to look at personality differences among seniors at the school-was presented. Also at that time, consent forms were handed out, allowing for voluntary participation. The consent forms explained that the study would look at psychoeducational variables such as self- esteem, locus of control, and academic self- esteem of high school seniors. It was also stated that participants' school records would be accessed to obtain GPAs. The procedure was outlined, including a statement that the study would take approximately 30 minutes of a study hall period during a specified two- week time frame.

All participants with a signed consent form completed the Coopersmith, Brookover, and Rotter instruments during a study hall period within a two-week period. Once instructions and an explanation of the purpose of the study were given, it took between 20-25 minutes for the participants to complete the instruments. The instructions involved explaining how to correctly complete each instrument and what each instrument measured. Participants were also informed that: (1) there were no right or wrong answers, (2) the results would be kept confidential, and (3) that they could see how they scored on the instruments once the study was completed. Finally, the participants were assured that their grades would not be affected

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The High School Journal - February 1998/March 1998

Variable Ss M SD

Locus of Control 35 10.86 11.19 Academic Self-esteem 35 32.17 3.75 Self-Esteem 35 63.54 22.87 Academic Achievement 35 2.70 .73

Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of Variables

in any way by their participation in the study. After participants finished completing the instruments, time for questions about the study and the instruments was made available. Participants were then thanked for their contribution to the study. Cumulative GPAs for all participants were gathered from students' grade records through the first semester of their senior year. Results Table 1 provides means and standard deviations on all measures. Participants' GPAs ranged from 1.381 to 3.985. Self-esteem scores were dispersed widely among the participants at all achievement levels, ranging from 20-100. The Rotter scores ranged from 4-17. Brookover scores concentrated in the above-average range with scores ranging between 25 and 39.

Pearson's r correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationships among the variables, that is, locus of control, self- esteem and academic self-esteem, and GPA. Table 2 summarizes the Pearson correlations among measures.

The value for the scores on the Brookover Scale, measuring academic self-esteem, and the GPA was significant and positive (r = .721, p < .005). This means that Hypothesis 5 was supported. Also, there was a statistically significant and negative relationship between the external locus of control orientation and general self- esteem which supports Hypothesis 1. The corresponding correlation coefficient was r = .338, p < .05. Fisher's Z statistic was used to compare these two significant correlations to determine if they differed significantly from each other. The correlation between the Brookover Scale and GPA was statistically larger than the correlation between the Rotter and the Coppersmith (Z = 2.216, p < .05). The correlation coefficients used to measure the relationship between variables for Hypothesis 2 (the Rotter and Brookover Scale) and Hypothesis 3 (the Rotter and GPA) was r = -.061 andr = .031, respectively, showed that no significant relationship existed. No support for Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 6 was found. Relationships between the Brookover Scale and the Coppersmith Inventory (r = .067) and

Variables r Prob.

Locus of Control x Self-esteem -.338 .05 Locus of Control x Academic Self-esteem -.061 -

Locus of Control x Academic Achievement .031 -

Academic Self-Esteem x Self-Esteem .067 -

Academic Self-Esteem x Academic Achievement .721 .005 Self-Esteem x Academic Achievement -.176 -

Table 2. Pearson Correlation Coefficients Among Variables

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Psychoeducational Correlates of Achievement for Private School Seniors

the Coppersmith Inventory and GPA (r = -. 1 76) were not statistically significant. Discussion A statistically significant relationship was found between academic self-esteem and academic achievement. This suggests that students' perception of their ability is a predictor of their academic performance (Sapp, 1 990b) . Also , a significant negative relationship was found between external locus of control and general self-esteem, suggesting that students with an external locus of control orientation may have lower self-esteem. This study suggests that if a student's level of academic self-esteem can be increased, then his/her academic performance may be improved as well. Secondly, this study suggests that a student may be able to increase levels of self-esteem if s/he can move toward a more internal locus of control orientation.

Despite the supporting literature, no other significant relationships were found between: (1) locus of control and academic self-esteem, (2) locus of control and academic achievement, (3) academic self-esteem and general self- esteem, and (4) self-esteem and academic achievement. This may have occurred due to the study's limited sample size. First, the participants were volunteers, possibly biasing the sample. Second, all participants were from a private Catholic high school. Marsh (1991) notes that students from Catholic schools are much different from the majority public school population in that Catholic schools are more academically-oriented and have higher levels of student achievement. This may account for nonsignificant findings between achievement and locus of control or general self-esteem. Attending a Catholic school has not been shown to be statistically significant for affective variables such as self-esteem, locus of control, and academic self-esteem.

Due to limitations of the correlational method, the results of the present study need to be interpreted with the understanding that causal relationships should not be inferred. Differences in the population sample used, the instruments used to measure variables,

and other extraneous variables may have resulted in the different correlation coefficients obtained.

The original purpose of this study was to compare college-bound students to noncollege-bound students in terms of psychoeducational variables such as locus of control, self-esteem, academic self-esteem, and academic achievement. Because of the large percentage of seniors at this particular school with postsecondary school plans, the focus of the study was changed to look at those psychoeducational variables and achievement. It is recommended that research be conducted which investigates the differences in high school seniors, attending a Catholic school, who are continuing their education with postsecondary school and those who are not, in terms of the psychoeducational correlates of achievement.

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