Study Habits, Self-Esteem, and Academic Achievement Among Public and Private Secondary School Students in Bangladesh

Article History: Received 10.01.2021 Received in revised form 28.03.2021 Accepted 24.04.2021 Available online 01.05.2021 Article Type: Research Article Studies on academic achievement worldwide are sporadic, focusing on variables more or less have been taken by the researchers, and provided knowledge. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine how the school effect influences secondary school students' academic achievements by two important significant (study habits and self-esteem). With a covenient sampling method, 400 students from eight secondary schools in Bangladesh were selected for the study. Though the students were equally divided regarding gender (Boys, 200; Girls, 200), they were different regarding school types (Public, 188; Private, 212). Their ages range from 14 to 17, with an average of 14.8. They provided responses on two Bangla version scales: Study Habit Scale and Self-Esteem Scale. Academic achievement was significantly positively correlated with both study habits (r=.268, p<.01) and selfesteem (r=.291, p<.01). Two predictors of the study were also correlated with each other (r=.283, p<.01). Public and private school students were not varied significantly in studying habits and academic achievement, but they were significantly different in self-esteem. The study habits and selfesteem jointly explained 12.3% for public school students' academic achievement whileit explained 7.5% variance for the private school students. The discussion implies that how students’ study habits and self-esteem facilitate their academic achievement. Further studies will reflect more factors influencing academic achievement. © 2021IJPES. All rights reserved


Introduction
Study habits generally refer to pupils' repeated actions to study from the beginning to the end of all educational programs. It refers to students' habitual practices to complete their curriculum (i.e., the totality of experiences in the educational process). It typically denotes the degree to which the student engages in regular acts of studying characterised by appropriate studying routines (e.g., reviews of material) occurring in an environment conducive to studying (Crede & Kuncel, 2008). Study habits are students' way of studying, whether systematic, efficient, or inefficient (Good, 1998); the adopted way and manner a student plans to attain mastery of the subject (Azikiwe, 1998). Study habits are a multidimensional concept that involves setting up strategies, scheduling a study plan and time, definite place, and behaviour patterns by a student to form a structured approach to self-learning and doing accordingly in his or her academic life. It is influenced not only academic adjustment but also the personal and social adjustment for the students beyond school years.
As an influential predictor of specific outcomes such as academic achievement, self-esteem is attractive as a social psychological construct (Marsh, 1990, Aryana, 2010. It affects how we are and act in the world and the way we are related to everybody else (Jordan, Spencer, & Zanna, 2003;Bonet, 1997). Self-esteem may be one of the essential self-evaluation dimensions because it is the overall value one feels about oneself (Bono & Judge, 2003;Chang et al., 2012;Judge, Locke, Durham, & Kluger, 1998). It is an overall and global emotional placement of self (Frost & McKelvie, 2005;Robins, Tracy, Trzesniewski, Potter, & Gosling, 2001), positive or negative evaluation of the self (Rosenberg, 1965;Smith & Mackie, 2007). It can be either positive, leading to greater happiness or potentially leading to depression (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003).
Academic achievement represents performance outcomes that indicate the extent to which a person has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in instructional environments, specifically in school, college, and university (Steinmayr, Meibner, Weidinger, & Wirthwein, 2014). It is the knowledge attained or skills developed in school (Good, 1993). It is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals. The field of academic achievement covers a wide variety of educational outcomes that depends on the indicators used to measure it. According to Steinmayr er al. (2014), there are very general indicators of academic achievement such as procedural and declarative knowledge acquired in an educational system, more curricular-based criteria such as grades or performance on an educational achievement test, and cumulative indicators of academic achievement such as educational degrees and certificates. In almost all societies, either developed, or developmental, academic achievement plays a vital role in every person's life. In Bangladesh, academic achievement for all educational systems is going through a general measure, that is, grades or performance (e.g. GPA) performed on several test or examinations. Therefore, academic achievement defines how one can take part and succeed in every education system.
For the last twenty years, tremendous educational development has proliferated globally and in Bangladesh, especially for private secondary schools. Privately organized schools are now more popular than any other time in Bangladesh education history. In 1995, the total number of secondary schools was 12012, but private schools increased 39% per cent in 2018 and reached upto 20465, accounting for a 98% increase for private schools over public ones (BANBEIS, 2018). Not only in Bangladesh is the above scenario almost common amongst all developing countries as well. Public versus private school education is a compelling topic in international dialogue as well as national now. Some people argue that public school students have better educational achievement than private schools, while others favour private schools over public. So there is a challenge to know the school effects in the measure of academic achievement at the secondary school system. The study will lead to a great extent to measure the school effects on academic achievement with the present data results.

Theoretical background
The theoretical framework provides the fundamental basis for the study is considered. From the educational relevance, the gestalt theory of learning implies understanding the academic performance, the environment which stimulates certain study habits, use of instructional materials, and perception and understanding of a lesson by the student. From motivational perspective (Maslow, 1943), a student's physiological needs must be satisfied first for good study habit formation. Then, he/she will move to their teaching instructions with a sense of belonging, and are eventually motivated to develop appropriate study habits and have improved academic performance. Maslow (1987) described esteem needs that are more relevant to the study, including how confident a student feels his/her sense of achievement and worth.The idea is that once a student builds a healthy level of self-esteem, he/she can move on to achieving and self-improvement.
Self-esteem is the influential predictor of academic achievement (Marsh, 1990). There is a significant positive correlation between academic achievement and self-esteem, meaning that students with high academic achievement tend to feel more confident than low achiever counterpart (Baumeister, 2005(Baumeister, , 2009Marsh, Byrne, & Young, 1999;Ross & Broh, 2000). For both US and UK school samples, Booth & Gerard (2011) demonstrated that self-esteem is related to multiple academic achievement indicators. Grade differences in between selfesteem and academic achievement found for the study of 838 secondary students in the US (Alves-Martins et al., 2002). There is myriad research in gender differences in self-esteem, in which female high school students obtained higher grades and outperformed males in self-esteem (Jacobs, 2002;Lao, 1980;Wilberg & Lynn, 1999). On the contrary, male students' self-esteem is generally moderately higher than females (Heaven & Ciarrochi, 2008;Hergovich, Sirsch & Felinger, 2004;Kling, Hyde, Showers, & Buswell, 1999;Quatman & Watson, 2001;Young & Fisler, 2000).
School types (private or public high school) make a difference in student academic performances (Hahn et al., 2014;Philias & Wanjohi, 2011). Most studies examining the private and public sectors focused solely on academic outcomes with varying results. There is a difference between public and private schools regarding study habits influential for public schools. Public schools perform favourably with private schools (Braun et al., 2006). Likely public schools, students in private schools have better academic performance than those in public schools (Hahn et al., 2014;Peterson & Elena, 2006). Private secondary schools have no direct effect on public secondary school achievement (Alimi et al., 2012;Sander, 1999). Public and private high school participants significantly differed on self-esteem, with private school participants reporting high levels of selfesteem and public school participants reporting moderate self-esteem levels (Adediwura et al., 2008;Mergler & Spooner-Lane, 2008). Most studies show that, on average, girls do better in school than boys. Girls get higher grades and complete high school at a higher rate than boys (Jacobs, 2002).
In terms of three factors, few types of research have been conducted in Bangladesh yet. However, in particular, there are numerous studies in academic achievement measuring with certain socio-demographic variables more or less taken by the researchers. Academic achievement had been measured to some extent, for example, an achievement with parental acceptance (Akter et al., 2013); achievement regarding different demographic factors (e.g. age, gender, medium of education; Alam et al., 2014); achievement in community factors (Alam, 2015), etc. Also, there is some research considering self-esteem with demographic variables (Uzzaman et al., 2013), self-esteem with optimism (Ahmed, 2012), and self-esteem with social responsibility (Akhter & Hossain, 2012). Researchers were more interested in 'self-concept' than 'self esteem' with academic achievement in our country. They found a positive correlation between dimensions of self-concept with school student's academic achievement (Shahrier & Enam, 2012;Talukder & Parvin, 2011) or found a negative one, self-concept was not a predictor of academic achievement of secondary school students (Sagar, 2014). Though some studies were conducted considering public vs private university students (Akhter & Hossain, 2012), it is scarce in the secondary school context in Bangladesh.

Problem statement
The public versus private school issue is a common debate over the world now. Researchers in Bangladesh are now showing considerable interest to conduct a new study on the private vs. public school issues. Effective study habit is essential for any student's success in school. Students who have developed good study habits are more likely to experience increased competence and confidence as they learn. Thus, good study habits make a student have good self-esteem. The combination of good study habits and positive self-esteem facilitates excellent academic performance while their absence may adversely affect academic achievement (Palaniappan, 2007). So, it is crucial to look for a more justified study habits that can enhance self-esteem and academic performance. Our concern is to conduct a study to investigate the relationship among study habits, self-esteem and academic achievement of public and private secondary school students. The research framework for the present study is given in the following figure 1.

Purpose
This study's primary purpose was to determine whether study habits and self-esteem affect academic achievement adopted by public and private secondary school students.

Research questions
Based on the previous research discussed in the literature review, the following research questions were formulated for the present study: H1: Is there a difference between private and public-school students regarding study habits, self esteem, and academic achievement? H2: Are there relative influences of study habits and self-esteem on academic achievement? H3: Is there a relationship among students' study habits, self esteem, and academic achievement? H4: Is there a relationship among subscales of study habits and students' academic achievement? H5: Is there a difference between boys and girls in terms of study habits, self-esteem, and academic achievement?

Population and sample
The target population of the study was secondary school students (both public and private) in Bangladesh. There is a total of 10330695 secondary school students in Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2019). Before starting data collection from the target population, we used the Raosoft Sample Size Calculator (Rao, 2012) to measure the study's actual sample size. Based on the four criteria: a) total target population; b) 5% of marginal error acceptation; c) 95% of the confidence interval; and d) 50% of response distribution; this calculator recommended 385 participants as the sample size for the present research. Thus, a decision was made to select at least 400 students from secondary schools in Bangladesh. Consequently, questionnaires were provided to 480 students at 8 secondary schools (60 in each school). Convenient sampling was used to pick up students from each selected school. Finally, the sample size of the study included 400 students with an acceptance rate of 83.33%. The study students were from eighth to tenth grade, ranging between 14 to 17 years (M=14.8, SD=.76).

Reserach design
A cross-sectional research design was used in the study. In this design, a researcher measures the outcomes and exposures in the study participants simultaneously. By considering this design, the researcher decided that he would compare different sample groups (public and private students) at a single point of time using survey questionnaires.

Measuring instruments
The following measurement scales measured students' self-esteem, study habits, and academic achievement.

Self esteem scale
The Bangla version of the self-esteem scale (Ilyas, 2002), initially developed by Rosenberg (1965), was used to measure self-esteem. The original sample for which the scale was developed consisted of 5024 high school juniors and seniors in New York. The scale is a 10-item measure of positive and negative aspects of self-esteem. The responses were scored on a 4-point Likert scales ranging from strongly agree (3) to strongly disagree (0). There were reversed scores for items 3,5,8,9,10. The possible range of score is 0-30. The sum of the scores was classified according to self-esteem level, with 15-25 considered normal and scores <15 considered low self-esteem. High Cronbach alpha (α=.87) for the Bangla version indicated the internal consistency of the scale.

Study habit scale
The Bangla version of the study habit scale is developed by Karim & Banu (2000). This is a 5 point Likert scale consists of 77 items with 64 positive and 13 negative items. The responses were scored on a scale from rarely (1) to almost always (5). A reverse score was used for a negative item. The possible range of score is 77-385. The individual's high score indicates sound study habits, and a low score indicates poor study habits. The testretest reliability of the scale was found to be significant (r=.780). Although the subscales of the scale had not good Cronbach alphas (.47-.88), however, the full scale had a good Cronbach alpha (α=.91).

Academic achievement measure
Students' academic progressive reports for the last two consecutive academic years were obtained from the school registrar. The average score of two academic years was found for each student and then the total score for all students.

Procedure
Respondents were proportionately drawn from eight selected schools. From each selected school, random sampling was used to pick respondents from identified sample to respond to the instruments. It should be noted here that, respondents were selected from both coeducation and single education schools (boys or girls). They were informed that they were participating in a study concerned with measuring study habits and self-esteem. They were assured that the information gathered from them would be kept confidential and used only for research purposes. Initially, the questionnaires were provided to 480 students at 8 schools. In each school, 60 questionnaires were provided to the students. A questionnaire set was provided to each student and this set was collected from him/her individually. Though a total of 480 questionnaires were provided to students initially, a total of 400 questionnaires were selected finally. The rest of the 80 questionnaires were not considered due to their incomplete filling up. Students who did not understand the questionnaire properly were given necessary explanations. Upon completing the questionnaires, the respondents were given reinforcement and warmly thanked for their cooperation and support.

Results
The study's statistical analyses were carried out with the Statistical Package Program for Social Sciences (SPSS-20 version) and Microsoft Excel. The statistical analyses used to analyse the data were: descriptive statistics (e.g., M, SD, and SE), significance tests (e.g., t and F), correlational relationships (e.g., r), and regression analysis (e.g., R and R 2 ).
There is no significant difference between public and private secondary school students regarding study habit and academic achievement. However, public school students had better self-esteem than their private school counterparts (t=2.29, DF= 398, p<0.05; table 2). In the following table 3, study habit and self-esteem together accounted for 11.4% variance in academic achievement (R 2 = 0.114, p<0.01) when considering both private and public schools together. These two variables accounted for 12.3% (R 2 = 0.123, p<0.01) and 7.5% (R 2 = 0.117, p<0.01) variances in academic achievement regarding public and private schools respectively. Study habit significantly accounted for 4.4% and 2.9% variances in academic achievement in terms of public and private schools respectively. Study habit is a significant predictor of academic achievement regarding both public and private schools. Self-esteem alone significantly accounted 6.0% variance in academic achievement (R 2 = 0.060, p<0.01) when considering public and private schools together. Moreover, self-esteem significantly accounted for 6.9% and 4.2% variances in academic achievement regarding public and private schools, respectively. Thus, self-esteem was a stronger predictor to create variations in students' academic achievement. There was the highest positive significant correlational relationship between self-esteem and students' academic achievement (r = 0.291, p<0.01). There were also positive relationships between self-esteem and study habits (r = 0.283, p<0.01), and between academic achievement and study habits (r = 0.268, p<0.01). So, there is a bilateral positive correlational relationship among the three variables. That is, the higher the self-esteem the higher the achievement of students in academics. Similarly, the higher the study habit, the higher the students' academic achievement. The bilateral correlational relationship among the three variables is presented in the following figure 2.

Academic achievement
The significant positive correlations were found between academic achievement and five subscales of the study habit scale. The highest correlation was found between academic achievement and the subscale of 'setting up a schedule for studying' (r =0.281, p<0.01) for public school students, whereas in private schools, the highest correlation was observed for the subscale of 'selecting a definite place to study ' (r=0.273, p<0.01). The lowest correlation was found between academic achievement and the subscale of 'setting techniques and strategies for studying' (r =0.201, p<0.05) for public school students, whereas in private schools, the lowest correlation was observed for the subscale of 'preparation for examination ' (r=0.188, p<0.05). Correlational relationships between students' different study habits and their academic achievement are presented in table 4.

Discussion
In Bangladesh, it is generally believed that a student's academic performance is only the gateway to success. Since students' success in life rests solemnly on academic achievement, the study measured secondary school students' academic achievement considering two influential factors of study habit and self-esteem. Students from public schools scored higher than their private school counterpart in respect to all three variables. Though public school students scored higher than private, the school effect was not significant on study habits and academic achievement. But, the public school effect was significant over private in self-esteem. Braun et al. (2006) and Colquhoun and Bourme (2012) found the same results. However, the opposite result was found by Eremie and Chikweru (2015), in which the authors found a higher level of self-esteem among private school students than public school students. In terms of three variables, girls' significantly scored higher than their boys' counterpart. This finding concurs with previous reports (Jacobs, 2002;Colquhoun & Bourme, 2012). However, the opposite result by Farid and Akhar (2013) found a higher level of self-esteem among boys than girls. Girls succeed over boys in school because they are more apt to make plans in advance, set academic goals, and put more effort into achieving those goals. Study habits overall and their five dimensions (i.e. setting up a schedule for studying, selecting a definite place to study, the reward for studying, preparation for the examination, setting techniques and strategies for studying) was significant with academic achievement. Students' who had proper study habits and plans predicted positive academic achievement, while those who had poor study habits and plans (i.e. low orientation skills, inappropriate study schedule, poor learning strategies and techniques, lack of time and effort, etc.) lead to academic failure. The findings are consistent with more previous studies (e.g. Bashir & Mattoo, 2012;Mendezabal, 2013;Osa-Edoh & Alutu, 2012).
Students' with high self-esteem scored high in academic achievement and were more confident about academic success, while the students' with low self-esteem decreased achievement and were less confident in educational attainment. This finding concurs with more past findings (Ross & Broh, 2000). Successful students with more academic abilities have an overview of themselves, and their academic self-esteem influences their overall self-esteem. It reflects a person's overall appraisal of his or her own worth. Thus, students with more moderate academic abilities compensate for their academic success by uplifting their general self-esteem (Pullmann & Allik, 2008). Few findings support the strong relationship between study habits and self-esteem, but a positive relationship found in some studies that support the present study (Nyamu, 2007). Study habits and self-esteem together and are a significant predictor of academic achievement among public and private school students.However, a more significant influence of public school is on the academic achievement of private school students.However, a more significant influence of public school is on the academic achievement of private school students.That means public school students met the parents' and society's expectations, developed positive self-esteem, settled up proper study habits, and performed well in school examinations. Public schools in Bangladesh have skilled and professionally sound teachers, better pupil-teacher ratios, more educational equipment and aids, a substantial financial allocation from the government, better admission procedure etc., causing its effects on private schools. Hence, the differences in the facilities available in public and private secondary schools are evident in our country. This result was fitted by the past study of Alimi et al. (2012).
Significant positive relationships found among study habit, self-esteem, and academic variables. The bilateral relationship among the variables proposed a new assumption on whether study habits and selfesteem are correlated with academic achievement, are study habits and self-esteem necessarily be correlated. Since study habits and self-esteem both positively correlated with academic achievement, the correlation between study habits and self-esteem could well be positive. Thus, the study correctly established the above assumption. The field theory in this context implies that the whole environment of learning including study habits well rated by the students helping them score better academic performance. Maslow's theory supports the study; students had good motivational processes to achieve academic success because they had fulfilled physiological and safety needs to form appropriate study habits. Since students' self-esteem was good, it might because they were well-judged or respected by others in the form of academic success or had well self-confidence might lead to their academic attainment in the future.

Conclusion and Recommendation
The students from public schools were proved to be good from private schools regarding all three variables (study habits, self-esteem, and academic achievement).Similarly, the girls were proved to be good in respect to all three variables. There were positive bilateral correlational relationships among three study variables. Students' study habits were significant as these habits were significantly positively correlated with their academic achievement. In respect to whatever the school type, study habits and self-esteem were the significant predictors in explaining students' academic achievement. The study results might help the researchers establish a solid foundation in private vs public secondary school context. Regarding all variables, private school students scored lower scores than their public school counterparts. Stakeholders who are involved in private schools should take initiatives to improve their student's self-esteem. Therefore, the following recommendations have been made: (a) parents, teachers, psychologists, and counselors should endeavour to help students to develop positive self esteem through hard working and optimism in private schools; (b) assisting the students through teaching and training on how to improve their study habit and self esteem; (c) both parents and teachers should create and encourage relaxed atmosphere for students; (d) there is need for continual development of school facilities, skilled teachers, seeking school recognition, etc. especially in private schools to ensure students' school acceptance that make them a feedback to develop self esteem; and (e) it needs to ensure that students will be accepted unconditionally by their environment (i.e. home, school, group, etc.), they will have freedom, positive regard, and should be provided study plans to make learning easy.