Esteem Construct Generality and Academic Performance

Measures of global, specific, and task-specific self-esteem were administered to 78 male and 81 female college students and related to predicted and actual performance on a midterm examination. Significant correlations were found between global and specific measures and between specific and task measures, but not between global and task measures. The relationship between the esteem measures and actual performance was strongest for the task measures, next strongest for the specific measures, and nonsignificant for the global measures. Specific measures were also significantly related to predicted performance, but global measures were not. The findings were discussed in terms of four criticisms of global measures, and it was suggested that more specific self-esteem measures be developed.