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Discriminating between primary school students with high and low self-esteem using personal and classroom variables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Paul C. Burnett  and
Kellie Howard
Paul C. Burnett*
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University
Kellie Howard
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University
*
Centre for Research and Graduate Training, Charles Sturt University, WAGGA WAGGA NSW 2678, Phone: 61 2 6933 4221, Fax: 61 2 6933 2800, E-mail: pburnett@csu.edu.au, Home Page: http://www.csu.edu.au/research/burnett, CSU Research: http://www.csu.edu.au/research
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Abstract

From an initial sample of 747 primary school students, the top 16 percent (n = 116) with high self-esteem (HSE) and the bottom 15 percent (n = 111) with low self-esteem (LSE) were selected. These two groups were then compared on personol and classroom variables. Significant differences were found for all personol (self-talk, self-concepts) and classroom (teacher feedback, praise, teacher-student relationship, and classroom environment) variables. Students with HSE scored more highly on all variobles. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was then used to determine which variables discriminated between these two groups of students. Learner self-concept, positive and negative self-talk, classroom environment, and effort feedback were the best discriminators of students with high and low self-esteem. Implications for educational psychologists and teachers are discussed.

Keywords

Clossroom EnvironmentPrimary SchoolSelf-EsteemSelf-Talk
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , 2002 , pp. 18 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2002

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