EDAC 634 Literature Reviews

Name	Commented On
Claire Maxson	Nick Capozzoli
	Angela McGee
	Carlos Guerrero
	Pam Shawl

Self Esteem and Student Success Literature Review

By Claire Maxson
February 12, 2017
4:15 pm

Introduction

For some there can be a misconception of what self-esteem is and perhaps even more often the importance it plays in one’s life.  During youth, one is told to have high self-esteem but what this even means or how to go about this isn’t necessarily well-defined.  As one matures, taking time to reflect on such a topic can be placed on the back burner in busy lives.  And for some it may never even make it to the stove!  In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, esteem is second from the top and is described by self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of and from others, and status in a group. The first stage of this hierarchy is basic needs, followed by safety needs and the next level social needs.  Then come esteem needs with self-actualization at the top.  “Humanism emphasizes that perceptions are centered in experience, and it also emphasizes the freedom and responsibility to become what one is capable of becoming."  (Merriam, p. 282) Adult learners are impacted by their self-esteem as are learners of any age.  But adult learners may not recognize this without taking the time to do a deep dive on this topic and see how it weaves through their life.  This idea of self-reflection and self-evaluation can allow for growth in a student’s self-awareness in connection to self-esteem.  This links to humanism because this orientation focuses on the human potential for growth.  “Every human being is unique and has a value that deserves to be respected.” (Ticusan, pg. 669)

General Themes

Theme 1: Self-Evaluation

“Self-esteem is how we evaluate ourselves in relation to our own expectations and to others and is directly proportional to the awareness of our value.” (Ticusan, p. 6722) But how does one go about this evaluation?  There are many tools that have been used for such an assessment.  In the article, Measuring Self-Acceptance: Expectancy forSuccess vs. Self-Esteem seven such evaluations are discussed.  The first being Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS) in which 30-questions begin with the phrase “In the future I will.” A scale of 1 representing highly improbable to 5 representing highly probable is used. “Each item is a different completion of the proposition and represents the belief in some future success or failure.” (Mearns, p. 392) The GESS was developed by Fibel and Hale in 1978.  The second evaluation discussed in this article was the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale where subjects admit or deny having socially desirable traits that are uncommon.  The next evaluation came up in other articles reviewed for this assignment. “The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) which consists of 10 global items that measure positive and negative feelings about oneself. Subjects respond from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).” (Mearns, p.393) The fourth assessment in the article is called the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) in which 40 socially desirable and undesirable behaviors are rated on how true they are of the subjects.  The author also developed two “self-rating scales” focusing on the topic of self-acceptance.  The final evaluation was a sociometric scale with five self-acceptance scales of “Reaction to Failure, Openness vs. Defensiveness, Bragging, Competitiveness vs. Cooperation, and Rigid Independence vs. Willingness to Seek Help.” (Mearns, p. 393) The GESS and the Rosenberg proved to be the better measures of self-acceptance. 

In the article The Effects of Self-Esteem and Expectancies for Success on Affective Reactions and Achievement the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was discussed along with two other evaluations the authors designed.  One was a questionnaire to address the degree to which “causal explanations” influenced performance on a task.  “Eight of the sources were derived from Weiner’s (1979) model and included ability, general effort, immediate effort, mood, teaching influence, luck, task difficulty and unusual intervention by others.  A ninth attribution, practice due to pretest, was introduced due to the nature of the study.  A tenth attribution, motivation, was introduced to ascertain whether students perceived the global construct of motivation to be a determinant of performance.” (Midkiff & Griffin, p. 277) A questionnaire was also developed and used to assess the students’ emotional reaction their performance.  There was a 6-point scale utilized to rate to which degree they felt “confidence, depression, satisfaction, incompetence, pride, upset, happiness, guilt, surprise, disappointment, contentment, stupidity, excitement, anger, relief, frustration, aggression, gratitude, shame, or competence.”  (Midkiff & Griffin, p. 277) While this example was in questionnaire form, this type of reflection will be reviewed in the expressive writing portion later in the paper.  But even in a short form, taking time to do such reflection can lead to results with impact.

Theme 2: Self-Acceptance

As mentioned previously, Mearns developed two scales for subjects to rate their level of self-acceptance. “The rating scales provided definitions of some feelings or behaviors that fits the Social Learning Theory conception of self-acceptance – believing that one can meet one’s needs, be successful, etc. This scale’s items more closely resembled those of the GESS.  The other scale presented a more traditional definition of self-acceptance – liking oneself, feeling adequate – that was drawn from the items of the Rosenberg scale.” (Mearns, p. 393) According to the researcher, these scales were a “weak measure with low internal consistency” but I do think it is interesting that the evaluations that appeared the most valid (GESS & Rosenberg) were what these scales were based from.  Knowing one’s strengths and areas of improvement allow for personal growth.  “It is our assumption that students enter achievement situations with established levels of self-esteem.  When faced with an achievement situation, students then set expectancies for success or failure based on their existing self-esteem and any previous experiences with similar academic materials. Performance is then guided both by self-esteem and expectancies, as well as relevant skills and knowledge.” (Midkiff & Griffin, p. 275)

In the On Course textbook, by Skip Downing, there is a portion in chapter 8 that describes flow.  This idea that if one has a high skill and low challenge they experience boredom and that at the opposite end of that spectrum if one has a high challenge but a perceived low skill set they experience anxiety.  Right in the middle of these is a state of flow where there is a balance between skill level and challenge or even just a bit more challenge than skill. This state of flow results in being completely absorbed in an activity.  If one develops a growth mindset, that while an individual may not be the best at everything they can become better at anything, they are more open to asking for help.  In an academic setting if a student accepts that math is an area of weakness but that feels they can work at it by seeking help at the tutoring center, this allows for the possibility that not only the math grade but more so the understanding of math with rise.  A student with a fixed mindset that math is a weakness and they can’t do anything about it most likely will not seek out help and there is higher potential the same poor grade will remain.

Theme 3: Expressive Writing

“Students with low self-esteem and low expectancies whose expectancies were confirmed reported emotions which we have labeled self-referent.  That is, these emotions appear to be directed toward self and include depression, upset, disappointment, stupidity and frustration.” (Midkiff & Griffin, pg. 280) These are strong emotions that have the potential to derail more than just a student’s academic success.  Taking time to not only reflect on these emotions but also write about these reactions allows for students to persist through this strong feeling.  An example of this is found in chapter 8 of On Course on page 233 also.  This chapter focuses on emotional intelligence and one of the journal assignments connects directly to this study.  It asks students to not only write about a time that they felt one of these strong emotions (overwhelmed, angry, sad, or anxious) but to include strategies from the chapter reading that they could use in future situations when they experience that emotion again.  This can be a very therapeutic writing assignment for students.  They begin to realize how this past experience has impacted them and the influence it is still having on their present day.  For many, the strategies (i.e., identify the hurt, dispute pessimistic beliefs, visualize success, breathe deeply) are steps they had not taken to resolve these strong feelings.  But through this expressive writing they come to see that this experience they describe and the written reflection of it are both a learning opportunity.  This is the humanist orientation to learning.  The article, Helping Students through Expressive Writing: Effects of Different Types of Writing Instructions on Break-Up Related Distress, Global Perceived Stress, and Self-Esteem revolves around the expressive writing paradigm. (Pennebaker, 1985) “Pennebaker’s early research proposed that writing about a traumatic event serves as the same function as talking about it with another person, and can be used in the place of actual interaction.” (Veksler & Floyd, pg. 32) The authors offer that engaging in expressive writing allows people to understand better both themselves and the experience of the trauma itself and that putting emotion into words influences how people think about said trauma.  Veksler and Floyd studied three groups of students, their writing samples, and their reaction to the writing experience.  The first set of students were told their writing would be kept private only read by the researcher and that they would have the option of sharing it later.  The second set were told only the researcher would be reading their work but not shared with anyone later. And the third group were told that no one, not even the researcher, would be reading their expressive writing.  The “results suggest that there may indeed be differences between the perceived effectiveness of a communication-based versus private expressive writing task.” (Veksler & Floyd, pg. 34) And in my opinion, more importantly for future planning of curriculum, those who knew someone would be reading their writing, even if only the researcher, found greater personal growth.  “The results suggest that while any type of expressive writing may have a healing effect, private writing was less effective (i.e., led to a smaller reduction in distress) than was writing that was communicative.” (Veksler & Floyd, pg. 35) 

Theme 4: Success and Performance

Having an inviting atmosphere for sharing and growth allows students to feel supported.  Certain courses like a first-year seminar are developed with a small enrollment capacity to build a safe community.  These small class sizes allow students to build connections and a support network with classmates and instructors.  “Empirical studies indicate that people with low self-esteem acknowledge to possess certain positive aspects of self and engage in some forms of protection of self, only when the feel safe to do it.” (Ticusan, p. 670) These safe spaces allow students to reflect on past experiences and how they may be influencing them today.  Expressive writing assignments engage students in self-awareness and self-acceptance practices.  In Midkiff and Griffin’s research, students whose expectations were confirmed in the study reported a greater connection between their performance and ability, mood, and motivation.  They describe these as “attributions which support one’s current perceptions of self as able and motivated or unable and unmotivated.” (Midkiff & Griffin, pg. 280) Their findings also showed that students perceive motivation as a cause of their academic performance.  Ticusan discusses motivation as well in the article, Depression and Low-Self Esteem and its Influence on School Performance. “A student characterized by a character focused on positive values shall endeavor to obtain good results, while a student characterized by a weak character, besides positive moral values, will be focused more on the motivation to avoid failure, obtaining minimal results based on the principle of minimum resistance.” (Ticusan, p. 271) This author then goes on to list traits that are decisive in terms of school performance ranging from perseverance and discipline to neglect and laziness. The aim of Ticusan’s program was to “increase students’ adaptability to school environment, their motivation, awakening their interest for knowing and understanding study subjects.”  This sounds like quite a task to accomplish. Ticusan goes on to say self-esteem has both conscious and unconscious elements, is dependent on self-assessment, and can fluctuate over short time spans.  Midkiff and Griffin’s study suggests self-esteem and expectations influence reaction to performance.  “These results indicate most importantly that is not simply the levels of self-esteem and expectancies for success which determine attributions and affective reactions, but the consistency of self-esteem and expectancies with reality (i.e., the outcomes that students experience).” (Midkiff & Griffin, pg. 281) Finding ways to continue to build and maintain these is influential in long term student success.

Implications

The research of Midkiff and Griffin confirmed the importance of self-esteem to emotional reaction of performance and the performance outcomes themselves.  “Further examination of means revealed that low self-esteem subjects who set low expectations for success and had these expectancies confirmed reported greater feelings of depression in response to feedback that students in any other group.” (Midkiff & Griffin, pgs. 278-279) Students whose low performance expectations were confirmed continued to feed to the low self-esteem in students.  This led to increased emotional responses and internalization of strong feelings.  For those students with low self-esteem but confirmed high expectations there were increased feelings of excitement and gratitude.  Midkiff and Griffin labeled excitement as a self- referent emotion which has the “potential to impact self-perceptions.” They also label competence as a self-referent emotion which was the emotional result for students with high self-esteem and high expectations.  These students maintained high self-esteem from this experience.  Ticusan holds self-esteem in high regard and states it is “indispensable for self-control.”  These leads me back to chapter 8 in the On Course text on emotional intelligence.  There are four components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.  The self-management component goes hand in hand with self-control.  In the Veksler and Floyd article, it was confirmed that those who even simply anticipated someone else reading their writing showed lower levels of depression.  “This would suggest that having an intended audience for one’s own written disclosures plays an important role in the beneficial outcomes of expressive writing.  Unfortunately, only a few studies to date have examined the difference between private expressive writing and disclosure writing.” (Veksler & Floyd, pg. 33) I would be interested in further studies that have taken place in connection with this topic or perhaps working to develop my own.  I think there is room for improvement in the logistics but taking time to reflect on one’s self-esteem and the impact of one’s life experiences through expressive writing is beneficial.  In conclusion, I would suggest expressive writing be included in college success curriculum.

Reflection

I attempted to weave the idea that one’s level of self-esteem influenced one’s success and through expressive writing students could work on their self-esteem.  I think this is beneficial whether it is a student with low self-esteem looking to raise their level or someone with high self-esteem looking to maintain their level.  I think how one assesses their self-esteem can be difficult to pinpoint.  Therefore, one of my themes was self-evaluation.  I wanted the reader to know there are tangible assessments that have been in place for decades and there are others continuing to be developed.  Once someone’s self-esteem has been assessed it is up to the individual to accept the results or question them.  Either way, in my opinion, an assessment is meant to get one thinking.  And if someone doesn’t agree with the results they need to ask themselves, why not?  In the self-acceptance portion, it focuses on life experiences.  Accepting that these things have happened and that to move forward one must learn from them and look to the future.  Developing strategies for how to combat strong emotions is a tool to successfully manage future high stress situations.  One way this can be accomplished is through expressive writing. The first three themes lead to a discussion on overall success and performance.  I found more resources than I used in the review.  I went through and read each article highlighting points I thought would be useful.  As I wrote the paper, I went through each article and plugged in quotes that fit the four themes. So, I had already had a good amount of the expressive writing portion done before getting to that specific article.  As for what I have learned, students in the course I teach already write personal journal entries knowing they write will be read by me as the instructor but they are private from their classmates.  While I in my opinion it has proved to be an effective tool, it was beneficial to read about this to gain more understanding of the methods behind the research. 

Table

	The main themes/ideas in the literature (Check General Themes)	Application of the main ideas in practice (check Implications)
Idea 1	Evaluation of self-esteem	A variety of self-assessments are in existence. Using these as a basis for self-reflection allows one to acknowledge their perceived level of self-esteem.
Idea 2	Developing self-acceptance	Past experiences have an emotional influence on the present and future.  Accepting this and identifying useful strategies for future trying times is beneficial.
Idea 3	Overcoming through expressive writing	Expressive writing that has the potential to be shared, even with an audience of one, can raise or maintain one’s self esteem.
Idea 4	Self-esteem’s influence on success and performance	A student’s self-esteem and belief in one’s self has an impact on their academic outcomes.

References

Downing, S. (2014). On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, 7th Ed. Chapter 8, p237-238. Cengage.

Mearns, J. (1989). Measuring self-acceptance: Expectancy for success vs. self-esteem. Journal of Clinical Psychology, Volume 45, Issue 3, p390-397.

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide, 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey – Bass.

Midkiff, R. M., & Griffin, F. A. (1992). The Effects of Self-Esteem and Expectancies for Success on Affective Reactions to Achievement. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, Vol. 20 Issue 4, p273-282.

Ticusan, Marilena (2016). Depression and Low Self-Esteem and its Influence on School Performance. Scientific Research & Education in the Air Force - AFASES. 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 2, p669-673.

Veksler, Alice E.^, Floyd, Kory (2014/2015). Helping Students through Expressive Writing: Effects of Different Types of Writing Instructions on Break-Up Related Distress, Global Perceived Stress, and Self-Esteem. Journal of the Communication, Speech & Theatre Association of North Dakota. 2014/2015, Vol. 27, p31-44.