The impact of self-talk on college students' self-esteem, educational self-efficacy, and mood

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact that self-talk can have on students’ self-esteem, educational self-efficacy, and mood. Our self-talk is important in various ways. It is essentially the script that we use to frame our lives. The words we use can impact our emotions, well-being, and our behaviour. Our self-talk can be a great tool, or it can be damaging. It is vital to highlight that our thoughts and emotions are interrelated. Method: A questionnaire was provided to participants (N = 112) via social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook. It consisted of questions from The Brief Mood Introspection Scale, Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale, Self-talk Scale, and an Educational Self-efficacy Scale. Results: Results suggest that positive and negative self-talk engagements were significantly associated with self-esteem, educational self-efficacy, and mood, and both variables statistically predicted the dependent variables in the regression analysis. Finally, there were no statistically significant differences between gender types. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of self-talk engagement and enhance our understanding of the impacts it can have on students. Notably, the study indicates the need for future research in this area to determine how students continuously apply self-talk as they progress through different stages of education