Self-esteem
Correlations

From the late 1970s to the early 1990s many Americans assumed as a matter of course that students' self-esteem acted as a critical factor in the grades that they earned in school, in their relationships with their peers, and in their later success in life. Under this assumption, some American groups created programs which aimed to increase the self-esteem of students. Until the 1990s, little peer-reviewed and controlled research took place on this topic.

Peer-reviewed research undertaken since then has not validated previous assumptions. Recent research indicates that inflating students' self-esteems in and of itself has no positive effect on grades. Roy Baumeister has shown that inflating self-esteem by itself can actually decrease grades. The relationship involving self-esteem and academic results does not signify that high self-esteem contributes to high academic results. It simply means that high self-esteem may be accomplished as a result of high academic performance due to the other variables of social interactions and life events affecting this performance.

Attempts by pro-esteem advocates to encourage self-pride in students solely by reason of their uniqueness as human beings will fail if feelings of well-being are not accompanied by well-doing. It is only when students engage in personally meaningful endeavors for which they can be justifiably proud that self-confidence grows, and it is this growing self-assurance that in turn triggers further achievement.

Research has found a strong correlation between high self-esteem and self-reported happiness, but it is not yet known whether this relationship is causal. This means that although people with high self-esteem tend to report greater happiness, it is not certain whether having high self-esteem directly causes increased happiness. The relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction is stronger in individualistic cultures.

In addition, people with high self-esteem have been found to be more forgiving than people with low self-esteem. This is because people with high self-esteem tend to have greater self-acceptance and are more likely to view conflict in a positive light, as an opportunity for growth and improvement. In contrast, people with low self-esteem may have a harder time forgiving others, due to a sense of insecurity and self-doubt.

High self-esteem does not prevent children from smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or engaging in early sex.
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