Reviewing many
studies on self-esteem over the last few decades, Scientific
American (January 2005 issue) discovered that raising
self-esteem does not foster academic progression. In fact, some
findings even suggest that artificially boosting self-esteem may
lower subsequent performance.
In fact, the
most successful factor for improving performance is self-talk
about responsibility. Students who take responsibility for their
grades not only get better grades but learn that they, personally,
can control the grades they get. Their self-talk includes thinking
like "I need to work harder / I can learn this material if I apply
myself / I can control what happens to me in this class / I have
what it takes to do this. Conversely, students who did not improve
were thinking "Its not my fault / This test was too hard / I'm not
good at this.
And studies
of possible links between workers' self-regard and job performance
echo what has been found with schoolwork: the simple search for
correlations yields some suggestive results but these do not show
whether a good self-image leads to occupational success or vice
versa. In any case, the link is not particularly strong.
Other
studies indicate that low self-esteem does not predispose young
people to more or earlier sexual activity. If anything. those with
high self-esteem are less inhibited, more willing to disregard
risks and more prone to engage in sex. At the same time, bad
sexual experiences and unwanted pregnancies appear to lower
self-esteem.
Furthermore,
findings show mixed and inconclusive connections between drinking
alcohol or taking drugs and low self-esteem. A few studies show
that HIGH self-esteem is actually associated with frequent alcohol
consumption, but another suggest the opposite.
