Adult children of divorced families : self-esteem and academic achievement.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine t children's self-esteem and relationship between self-esteem and scholastic achievement, and how the child's age at the time of divorce affects academic achievement. To accomplish this objective the study employed the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory, 2nd Ed. (CFSEI-2), AD Form, developed by James Battle in 1992. The CFSEI-2 has four sUb-scales: Total Self-Esteem Score (TSES), General Sel1'·Esteem Score (GSES), Social Self-Esteem Score (SSES). Personal Self-Esteem Score (PSES). Multiple I-tests were performed to determine the difference in self-esteem for both groups. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out to discover how the age of the children at the time of their parents' divorce affected their academic achievement at postsecondary education level. Results of I-tests and ANOVA did not reveal any significant difference in self-esteem and academic achievement. However, correlation analyses indicated that there is a positive relationship between self-esteem, particularly TSES and SSES, and educational achievement of adult children of divorced parents.