Self-esteem instability and academic outcomes in American and Chinese college students

•Unstable high self-esteem was associated with academic disengagement for Americans.•Unstable high self-esteem was associated with academic devaluation.•Unstable self-esteem was associated with poor academic perform.

The connection between self-esteem instability and various academic outcomes was examined across two studies. Study 1 (N = 419) found that unstable self-esteem was associated with poor academic performance for American undergraduate college students. Further, unstable self-esteem was associated with higher levels of academic disengagement and devaluation for individuals with high levels of self-esteem. Study 2 included college students from the United States (N = 167) and China (N = 178). As in Study 1, unstable self-esteem was associated with poor academic performance and higher levels of academic devaluation for individuals with high levels of self-esteem. However, the association between unstable self-esteem and academic disengagement emerged only for American college students with high self-esteem.