Self-Esteem Level and Its Relationship to Academic Performance among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in a Malaysian Public University

Objectives: To assess self-esteem level among undergraduate pharmacy students, to determine the demographic variables that could have significantly influenced the self esteem level and to determine the correlation between the self-esteem level and academic performance. Methods: A 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) together with demographics section (e.g. age, gender, year of study, marital status, residency, highest achieved qualification), was distributed to all year 1 to year 4 pharmacy students at Universiti Teknologi MARA Puncak Alam, Malaysia. In addition, cumulative grade point average (CGPA) was collected. Data were then analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Results: A total of 239 undergraduate pharmacy students completed the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 93.4%. The majority were female (199/239, 83.3%) age of 20-25 years old (232/239, 97.00%). Most reported an average self-esteem level; the mean (±SD) score of self-esteem was 17.30 ± 3.88. In contrast to previous findings, there was no significant correlation between the self-esteem level and CGPA (p=0.87) in the current study. Also, other demographic variables did not contribute to any significant difference in self-esteem level (p>0.05) among the undergraduate pharmacy students. Conclusion: Internal and external factors are the two distinct aspects that can influence personal perception on the self-belief, further influencing the self-esteem level of an individual. The current study findings revealed that there was negative correlation between the self-esteem level and academic performance among the undergraduate pharmacy students. Self-reported data on CPGA could be the limitation.