The Correlation between Academic Competition and Academic Achievement and the Well-being of High School Students

The Correlation between Academic Competition and Academic Achievement and the Well-being of High School Students

Abstract For years, the underachievement of intellectually gifted students has intrigued researchers. I used past studies on self-handicapping behaviors to delve deeper into what causes this phenomena because studies that were conducted on self-handicapping and achievement levels have not yielded similar results to one another, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about that relationship. I conducted a survey to measure the impact of academic competition on high school students. This survey assessed 132 students from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, ew York, which has a total student population of 3,946 students. An insignificant correlation (r=0.066) between grade-point average and academic competition suggests that academic competition has a positive relationship on students long-term performance in school. An insignificant correlation (r=0.247) between academic competition and self-motivation in school suggests that as academic competition increases, there is a decrease in self-motivation to do well in school. This research suggests that academic competition drives students to perform their best, but also weakens their self-esteem. Instead of eliminating academic competition completely, research should be done to find out how to incorporate academic competition in a healthy way into the schools.

Literature Review Football coaching icon, Vince Lombardi, once said, Winning isn t everything; it s the only thing. Competition exists in every corner of our lives and it is used to compare, rank, and define people. Yet, in a society that is built upon competition, the impact of it is rarely examined. Specifically, the impact of competition in one of the more competitive venues the classroom. When I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher would give a crown to the person with the highest test score in the class. It started out as an amusing and light-hearted competition. However, I started to see things differently after I won the crown four times in a row. Although it was a great accomplishment to win the crown, my classmates were slowly growing hostile toward me. I felt pressured to keep earning the highest scores, and my biggest fear was finding out that I lost the crown to someone else. Although researchers have searched for a link between academic competition and self-handicapping behaviors, there is no suggestion of a correlation (Lemmer et al., 2014). Students spend a large part of their formative years in an academic environment, so it is likely that the values that are emphasized, such as working hard academically, will impact these children in a meaningful way. Much debate exists over whether competition in the classroom is beneficial and if it makes students work harder. Many teachers advocate fierce competition in the pursuit of optimal achievement, but academic competition may potentially contribute to students removing the selfmotivation to do well in school (Simek & Grum, 2011). More importantly, it is essential to study how academic competition impacts the well-being of children in school because it is just as important to help students thrive as it is to educate them. The well-being of students can be conveyed as maintaining relationships, positive self-esteem, and a healthy mindset (Black, 2005). Studies suggest that self-doubt brings on a desire for self-protection and leads to selfhandicapping behavior (Urdan & Midgley, 2001). Self-handicapping behavior is defined as the undermining of one's own performance, usually for the sake of impression management (Kolditz & Arkin, 1982). The fear of failure and the attempt to preserve self-esteem may lead to selfhandicapping behaviors. However, the impacts of rigid competition in schools are often forgotten in the midst of the benefits it may reap (Kohn, 2011). In one study, ew York City high school students from different boroughs were not able to participate in academic competition, and it was suggested that positive competition helps students identify their strengths, overcome their limitations to the best 1

of their abilities, and process their disappointments (Wallace-Segall, 2007). Private high schools cost over $25,000 a year, yet some feel that they are not getting their money s worth because administrators refuse to support students in literary, science, or math competitions, including the creative writing event, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. According to the administrators, the school does not want students to compete individually because that puts them in vulnerable positions as individuals. The school advocates competition within teams to avoid students taking the competition too personally. According to some educators, competition motivates students to do well in school, but destroys their self-esteem in the process (Richtel, 2012). Evidence from one experiment presents a different perspective. A strong positive correlation exists between academic procrastination and self-handicapping (Akca, 2012). Whether the learning environment is a major factor in procrastination and self-handicapping, leading to result in low test grades (Beck, Koons, and Milgrim, 2000), has still not been strongly suggested. The oal in education is not only to nurture students minds, but also their self-esteem. Academic competition is increasingly encouraged in classrooms, making it imperative for educators to question its impact on student self-esteem and, ultimately, our society. The findings of this study may help formulate teaching methods that help build student self-esteem and character. Educators could use the findings of this study to modify their approaches to students in an attempt to aid them in succeeding in school and in life. Hypotheses 1. Academic competition has a negative relationship on students long-term performance in school. 2. Academic competition contributes to students having little motivation to do well in school. 3. Sex differences of students contribute to different responses of failure. Instruments I used a survey to measure the impact of academic competition on high school students. Items 1 through 8 were demographic questions taken from Anzia Anderson s survey from her study of the correlation between income and perception of gender roles. Items 9 through 13 were self- 2

devised. Items 9 through 11 measured the degree to which students challenge themselves. Items 12 and 13 measured academic achievement. Item 13 was not counted for the data because high school ranking was not released at the time the survey was distributed. Item 14 was adapted from the interactive test on self-esteem from et Doctor. Item 14 measured the self-esteem of the respondent. Items 15 through 22 were adapted from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale and measured the selfesteem of the respondent. Items 23 through 32 were adapted from the Sorensen Self-Esteem Test. Items 24, 25, 27, 31, and 32 measured self-handicapping thoughts and behaviors. Items 26 and 28 gathered information on how students feel about academic competition. Items 29 and 30 measure the self-esteem of the respondent. Item 27 was modified to reflect an academic setting. Item 33 comes from the ational Association s survey titled Self-Guided Tour and measures what approach students take to deal with problems, and whether they practice self-handicapping behavior. Items 34 through 38 were taken from the questionnaire from the Chinese University of Hong Kong s 2012 study, and measures to what degree academic competition impacts students well-being. Sample Design This survey assessed 132 students from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, ew York, which has a total student population of 3,946 students. This study was conducted by distributing surveys to 5 classes: 3 regular-paced classes and 2 Advanced Placement classes. The teachers of these classes gave permission to distribute the surveys and the participants, who ranged from ages 15 to 18, were assured that their responses were only used for the purposes of this study. The identities of the respondents remained anonymous and confidential. The sample was not random, as I specifically chose to survey students from different levels of challenging courses. The final sample included 131 surveys and consisted of 98 females and 32 males, which is likely due to the fact that the breakdown of females in Edward R. Murrow High School is 58.59%, whereas the breakdown of males is 41.41%. I did not count one survey because that survey was left blank and would skew the data of this study. The primary limitation of this study is the sample size. It is difficult to draw a significant conclusion with such a small number of participants. Furthermore, my survey was several pages long. Students may have gotten bored and selected random answers in their desire to complete it. Finally, some respondents left some questions blank because they did not know the answer to the question. Missing data made it more difficult to get an accurate data set. 3

Results 1. Academic competition has a negative relationship on students long-term performance in school. The data did not support the hypothesis. An insignificant correlation (r=0.066) between gradepoint average and academic competition suggests that academic competition suggests that academic competition has a positive relationship on students long-term performance in school. (See Table 1) Academic competition was based on items 9 through 11. GPA was based on item 12. An insignificant correlation (r=0.344) suggests that students that are enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course tend to do well in school. (See Table 2) As academic competition increases, so does academic achievement. The number of AP courses was based on item 10. Table 1 Correlation between academic competition and GPA Correlations Grade-point average ACCOMP Grade-point average ACCOMP 1.000.162..066 131 130.162 1.000.066. 130 132 Table 2 Correlation between academic competition and number of AP courses Correlations ACCOMP Current # of classes Current # ACCOMP of classes 1.000.083..344 132 132.083 1.000.344. 132 133 4

2. Academic competition contributes to students having little motivation to do well in school. The data did support the hypothesis. An insignificant correlation (r=0.247) between academic competition and self-motivation in school suggests that as academic competition increases, there is a decrease in self-motivation to do well in school. (See Table 3) Table 3 Correlation between academic competition and self-motivation in school Correlations ACCOMP SLFHD ACCOMP SLFHD 1.000.101..247 132 132.101 1.000.247. 132 132 3. Sex differences of students contribute to different responses of failure. The data did support the hypothesis. (See Table 5)An insignificant correlation(r=0.954) between gender and response to failure suggests that males (=33) have a better response to failure than females do (=98). (See Table 4) Gender was based on item 3. Response to failure was based on items 14, 17, and 38. Table 4 Correlation between gender and response to failure: Group Statistics Group Statistics FAIL Gender Male Female Std. Error Mean Std. Deviation Mean 33 3.5901.5833.1015 98 3.5716.5796 5.855E-02 5

Table 5 Correlation between gender and response to failure: Independent Samples Test Independent Samples Test FAIL Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances F Sig. t df t-test for Equality of Means Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Std. Error Difference Difference Lower Upper.003.954.158 129.874 1.850E-02.1168 -.2127.2497.158 54.817.875 1.850E-02.1172 -.2164.2534 Discussion For years, the underachievement of intellectually gifted students has interested researchers. Underachievement is defined by a huge difference between what the student has the potential to achieve and what the student actually does achieve. I used past studies on self-handicapping behaviors to delve deeper into what causes this phenomena because studies that were conducted on self-handicapping and achievement levels have not yielded similar results to one another, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about that relationship. Despite this fact, it is commonly accepted that self-handicapping behaviors stem from worries about image and a lack of confidence in one s ability. Based on my study, females exhibit more self-handicapping behaviors than males, and multiracial respondents had higher self-handicapping perceptions than whites. The results of my research suggest that academic competition does not have a negative relationship on students long-term performance in school. In fact, 38.9% respondents reported that academic competition motivates them to do their best. However, 19.4% of respondents reported that academic competition weakens their self-esteem. While academic competition does encourage students to devote themselves to performing well in school, it also does lessen their self-esteem. Academic competition may lead students to compare themselves to other students and base their self-esteem on their academic achievements. The results of my study suggest that gender differences of students contribute to different responses to failure. Females tend to have a poorer response to failure than males do. This may be due to the fact that females feel more pressured than males do to succeed and perceive their academic failures as personal failures. The older the respondents were, the less competitive they were. This may be due to laziness, and in some cases, senioritis. This study also supported the notion that the older the respondents were, the more 6

they could not deal with failure. Although the data for this study is not statistically significant, it still built an important foundation. With a larger sample group, perhaps my data would be more supported. In the future, researchers should study how to reduce the negative effects on academic competition. I would recommend educational interventions to improve achievement level, which also puts an emphasis on preventing self-esteem damage and self-handicapping behaviors. This research suggests that academic competition drives students to perform their best, but also weakens their self-esteem. Instead of eliminating academic competition completely, research should be done to find out how to incorporate academic competition in a healthy way into the schools. 7

Works Cited Anderson, A. (2014).The Correlation Between Income and Perception of Gender Roles Akça, F. (2012). An Investigation into the Self-handicapping Behaviors of Undergraduates in Terms of Academic Procrastination, the Locus of Control and Academic Success. Journal of Education and Learning, 1 (2), pp 288-297. Black, S. (2005). And the Winner is. American School Board Journal, 192 (7), pp 33-35. Kohn, A. (2011). The Case Against Grades. Educational Leadership, 69 (3), pp 28-33. Kolditz, T. & Arkin, R..(1982). An impression management interpretation of selfhandicapping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43 (3), pp 492-502. Lemmer, G., Schwinger M., Wirthwein, L., Steinmayr, R.. (2014). Academic Self-Handicapping and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106 (3), pp 744-761. ational Association for Self-Esteem. (2010). Self Esteem Self-Guided Tour-Rate Your Self Esteem. Retrieved from http://www.self-esteem-nase.org/rate.php et Doctor. How high is your self-esteem?. Retrieved in February 2015 from http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/interactive/interactivetests/selfesteem.php Rosenberg, M. (1965). Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Retrieved in February 2015 from http://fetzer.org/sites/default/files/images/stories/pdf/selfmeasures/self_measures_for_self- Esteem_ROSEBERG_SELF-ESTEEM.pdf Richtel, M. (2012, Oct 8 ). The Competing Views on Competition. The ew York Times D1. Simek, D & Grum, D.. (2011). Competitiveness And Motivation For Education In Self- Handicapping. Studia Psychologica, 53 (1), pp 83-96. Segall, R. (2007). In Praise of Thought Competition. Wall Street Journal: Eastern Edition, 250 (126), pp A23 Sorensen, M. (2006). Sorensen Self-Esteem Test. Retrieved in February 2015 from http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/uploads/docs/sorensen_self-esteem_test.pdf 8

Urdan, T., & Midgley C.. (2001). Academic self-handicapping: What we know, what more there is to learn?. Educational Psychology Review, 13 (2), pp 115-138. Chinese University of Hong Kong. (2012). The Impact of Academic Competition on CUK student. Retrieved in February 2015 from http://www.my3q.com/home/goodboy/16184_viewdata.phtml?record=b 9