The Failure of General Self-Esteem : Self-Esteem ’ s Aggravating Affect on Racial Discrimination ’ s Relation to Achievement

Psychological research and popular culture have repeatedly noted that general self-esteem is a positive contributor to well-being and performance indicators across a large variety of domains including education. However, whilst increased self-esteem may have a positive influence on educational outcomes, increasing evidence suggests that perceptions of racial discrimination may also have a negative impact on these outcomes. The current investigation used a variety of structural equation modelling techniques to examine the potential impact of Indigenous Australian students’ general self-esteem and perceptions of racial discrimination upon performance on standardised spelling and math achievement measures. The results indicated that general selfesteem did not impact on Indigenous students’ performance, however, perceived racial discrimination impacted significantly and negatively on performance. In addition, a moderating analysis demonstrated that Indigenous students with a higher general self-esteem were more susceptible to the negative impact of racial discrimination than those with low self-esteem. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane, November 2008. Correspondence concerning this paper should be sent to Gawaian BodkinAndrews, Centre for Educational Research, Bankstown Campus, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia or via email to g.bodkinandrews@uws.edu. au Self-esteem, Discrimination and Achievement 2 It has been noted by a number of prominent self-construct researchers that following the dominance of the behaviourist movement spanning across the early to mid 1900s, psychology’s emphasis towards the importance of individuals’ self-perceptions became grossly neglected in favour of a strictly environmental, or in some cases genetic approach (Harter, 1990; Marsh, Byrne, & Shavelson, 1992; Shavelson, Hubner, & Stanton, 1976). Although the validity of the stereotypical anti-self perspective held by chief theorists within the behaviourist movement can be questioned (Hattie, 1992), a more recent revival in selfreferent research, beginning largely in the 1970’s, cannot be denied. This re-emergence of self-perceptions into psychological research has also seen an explosion in theoretical perspectives, and a confusing array of interrelated (and at times conceptually indistinguishable) labels such as self-image, self-worth, self-efficacy, self-respect, selfconcept, and self-esteem to name a few (Hattie, 1992). For the purposes of this investigation, an emphasis will be placed on the label of general self-esteem and research addressing the effectiveness of this self-construct. Whereas self-esteem has been suggested to positively impact upon educational outcomes for both Indigenous (Lester, 2000; New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group [NSWAECG] & New South Wales Department of Education and Training [NSWDET], 2005; Swan & Raphael, 1995) and non-Indigenous students (e.g., Alve-Marteins, Peixoto, Gouveia-Perira, Amaral & Pedro, 2002; Swann, Change-Schneider & McClarty, 2007; Zimmerman, Copeland, Shope & Dielman, 1997), increasing evidence suggests that racial discrimination may impact upon similar outcomes in a negative manner (Bodkin-Andrews, 2008; Rahman, 2003; Verkuyten & Brug, 2003; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002; Wong et al., 2003). As a result of these findings and suggestions that self-esteem may be an essential ingredient for increased levels of resiliency (Branden, 1994), this investigation attempted to examine the differential impact of self-esteem and racial discrimination may have on Indigenous Australian secondary students’ spelling and math achievement scores. Self-esteem and Achievement of Indigenous Australian Students In recent years, self-esteem has become a hot-topic, not only within psychological research, but also within the disciplines of business, education, politics, and religion (Brown, 1993), and has been deemed a pivotal construct of attaining success. In exploring the need for a heightened self-esteem within any individual, Branden (1994) argues that: To say that self-esteem is a basic human need is to say that it makes an essential contribution to the life process. Positive self-esteem operates, in effect, as the immune system of consciousness, providing resistance, strength and capacity for regeneration (p. 1). As a result of this need, Branden (1994) defines self-esteem as a construct that allows individuals to cope with the basic challenges of life, in addition to feeling deserving of happiness. Indeed, some research does suggest that self-esteem does is a pivotal construct for success (Zimmerman, et al., 1997), and as a result, may also be seen as a useful intervention for individuals whose background may traditionally be associated with lowered levels of achievement or success in certain areas. Specifically, within the Australian education system, Indigenous Australian students have often been associated with lowered educational standards and outcomes (Bortelli & Cresswell, 2004; Craven & Bodkin-Andrews, 2006; Purdie, Tripcony, Boulton-Lewis, Fanshawe, & Gunstone, 2000). Even the most cursory examination of the Indigenous educational literature, highlights that despite substantial improvement over the last few decades, the disadvantaged status of Indigenous Australian students, ranging from pre-school to the higher education system, is still clearly evident (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], Self-esteem, Discrimination and Achievement 3 2006; Bortelli & Cresswell, 2004; Department of Education Science and Training [DEST], 2002, 2003, 2005). One phase of schooling, in which the disparities between the performance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is arguably most evident, is within the secondary schooling system. In examining achievement patterns obtained from the large-scale Program for International Student Assessment survey (PISA, Bortelli & Cresswell, 2004), disparities in achievement levels for 15 year-old Indigenous Australians were evident when compared to all student groups of the same age. It was found that the percentage of Indigenous students who achieved the benchmark average for literacy, mathematics, and science was considerably lower than for the total Australian sample. That is, only 30.7% of Indigenous students reached the benchmark for reading literacy when compared to 61.8 % of all students within Australia. Similar results were achieved for mathematics (26.2% compared to 65.4%) and science (29.1% compared to 61.8%). In addition, research conducted by DEST (2005) has found that there is over a 20% inequity in the transition from compulsory secondary schooling (Grade 10 and below) into non-compulsory schooling (Grade 11 and 12). That is, only 66.3% of Indigenous students reach Year 12 when compared to 86.3% of the nonIndi9genous students. With a complete and successful progression through secondary schooling being recognised as one of the most important determinants in opening a variety of positive future pathways, such as better employment opportunities, higher educational options, and later economic stability (Craven & Marsh, 2004; DEST, 2005; Lester, 2000), disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous secondary school achievement must not be ignored. New Solutions for Indigenous Education Recent Indigenous education research has begun to take a new direction in attempting to more accurately identify educational determinants that have traditionally escaped the limited focus of the descriptive and statistical quagmire of educational inequities (Bin-Sallik, 2005; Bin-Sallik, Blomeley, Flowers, & Hughes, 1994). This new focus has largely centred around a stronger focus on the psychological well-being of Indigenous students (e.g., Craven & Marsh, 2004). One psychological variable that has received some consideration is that of general self-esteem. For example, within The Ways Forward Report on Indigenous mental health, Swan and Raphael (1995) argue that a key factor in aiding selfdetermination for Indigenous peoples would be the promotion of a stronger sense of self amongst the younger generations. Supporting Swan and Raphael’s suggestions, The Report of the Review of Aboriginal Education (NSW AECG Inc and NSW DET, 2004,) also highlighted the need to bolster the self-esteem of Indigenous students by stating that: A recurring theme from the field trips indicated that the success of Aboriginal students in junior secondary school, as in other phases of schooling, will only improve if schools can support and strengthen the self-esteem of their students (p. 110). In addition to this, Craven and Tucker (2003), who conducted semi-structured focus group discussions with representatives from a number of regional NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups (AECG), identified an overwhelming theme of the need to address the issue of the enhancement of Indigenous students’ self-concepts and self-esteem as a method of obtaining stronger schooling and post-schooling outcomes. The question still remains that despite the recommendations of respected Indigenous community members and researchers, just how effective is self-esteem as a potential facilitator of academic performance? Research examining this issue is inconsistent, for as Hattie (1992) found that within his review of over 120 studies (primarily from USA data), the majority of studies reported small correlations between . 0 and . 3 with an average correlation Self-esteem, Discrimination and Achievement 4 of . 21. Within the Australians setting, a number of studies have attempted to theoretically elucidate the role of self-esteem for Indigenous Australians within the educational system (e.g., Lester, 2000; Martin, 2006; Swan & Raphael, 1995), and/or attempted to more directly address this issue utilising varying quantitative and qualitative research methodologies (e.g., Bodkin-Andrews, Craven, & Marsh, 2005; Bodkin-An