Clustering undergraduate students based on their self-esteem and academic achievement
Abstract
Background: Self-esteem is one of the key foundations of human personality and is known as an important component in mental health and social psychology. Paying attention to the factors that contribute to students' academic achievement is a step toward long-term development and leads to proper planning to advance educational goals. This study was devoted to cluster undergraduate students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences based on their self-esteem and academic achievement.
Methods: The multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to select 260 undergraduate students from various fields in 2022. The data collection tool included a background information checklist, a 10-item self-esteem questionnaire, and a 39-item academic achievement questionnaire. The elbow method was used to estimate the number of optimal clusters. The NbClust package in R 4.2.1 software was used for clustering analysis based on the k-means approach.
Results: In this study, out of 260 participating students, 176 (67.7%) were girls and 84 (32.3%) were boys. The overall average ± standard deviation of academic achievement was 105.2 ± 10.3. There is a positive and significant correlation (r = 0.44) between academic achievement and self-esteem (P-value <0.001). The optimal number of clusters was estimated as four based on the elbow method. Self-esteem in cluster number 1 with 35 students was at the lowest level at -2.6±2.9. Cluster number 4 with 48 students had less academic progress with 94.0 ± 6.1 than the other three clusters.
Conclusion: Promoting the self-esteem and academic achievement of students is the duty of students, professors and colleges.
2. Moyano N, Quílez-Robres A, Cortés Pascual A. Self-esteem and motivation for learning in academic achievement: The mediating role of reasoning and verbal fluidity. Sustainability. 2020;12(14):5768.
3. Orth U, Robins RW. Development of self-esteem across the lifespan. Handbook of Personality Development; McAdams, DP, Shiner, RL, Tackett, JL, Eds. 2018:328-44.
4. Körük S. The effect of self-esteem on student achievement. The factors effecting student achievement: Springer; 2017. p. 247-57.
5. SHARAFI L, TAGHIBAYGI M, ALIBAYGI A. The Impact of Self-Esteem and Personal Characteristics on Educational Improvement of Razi University Agriculture Students. 2015.
6. Khan I, Mahmood A, Zaib U. Interplay of self-esteem with the academic achievements between male and female secondary school students. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2019;29(8):971-8.
7. Srivastava A, Mukherjee DS, Jebarajakirthy C. Triggers of aspirational consumption at the base of the pyramid: a qualitative inquiry from Indian context. Journal of Strategic Marketing. 2021:1-31.
8. Lepp A, Barkley JE, Karpinski AC. The relationship between cell phone use, academic performance, anxiety, and satisfaction with life in college students. Computers in human behavior. 2014;31:343-50.
9. Li J, Han X, Wang W, Sun G, Cheng Z. How social support influences university students' academic achievement and emotional exhaustion: The mediating role of self-esteem. Learning and individual differences. 2018;61:120-6.
10. Xiao JJ, Tang C, Shim S. Acting for happiness: Financial behavior and life satisfaction of college students. Social indicators research. 2009;92(1):53-68.
11. Batool SS. Academic achievement: Interplay of positive parenting, self‐esteem, and academic procrastination. Australian Journal of Psychology. 2020;72(2):174-87.
12. Salmalian Z, KAZEMNEZHAD LE. Correlation between self-concept and academic achievement of students. 2014.
13. Minev M, Petrova B, Mineva K, Petkova M, Strebkova R. Self-esteem in adolescents. Trakia Journal of Sciences. 2018;16(2):114-8.
14. Rosenberg M. Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Journal of Religion and Health. 1965.
15. Welles TL. Analysis of the Academic Success Inventory for College Students: Construct Validity and Factor Scale Invariance. 2010.
16. Adib-Hajbaghery M, Aminolroayaee Yamini E. Assessing academic success and its predictors from the perspective of nursing students in Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Iranian Journal of Medical Education. 2015;15:510-20.
17. Kassambara A. Practical guide to cluster analysis in R: Unsupervised machine learning: Sthda; 2017.
18. Moradi D, Karami M, Ghanei Gheshlagh R, Nemati M, Dehvan F. Evaluation of the relationship between self-esteem and academic success in nursing students of Kurdistan university of medical sciences, Sanandaj, Iran in 2018. Scientific Journal of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedical Faculty. 2018;4(2):71-8.
19. Liu G, Teng X, Zhu D. Effect of self-esteem and parents’ psychological control on the relationship Between teacher support and Chinese migrant Children’s academic achievement: a moderated mediation. Frontiers in Psychology. 2019;10:2342.
20. Jafari H, Aghaei A, Khatony A. Relationship between study habits and academic achievement in students of medical sciences in Kermanshah-Iran. Advances in Medical Education and Practice. 2019;10:637.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 10 No 4 (2024): . | |
| Section | Articles | |
| Keywords | ||
| Self-esteem Academic achievement K-means clustering Students | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
