Academic Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, and Academic Achievement among Truant and Punctual Students

School drop-out is one of the major concerns that hamper youth’s progress in professional setting. truancy and run away from school is leading cause for such drop-outs. the present study was aimed to examine the role of truancy in academic self-concept, self-esteem, and academic achievement through a comparison between truant and punctual students. a purposive sample of 200 students (truant = 100, punctual = 100) participated in the study. age range was 12-18 years. urdu versions of academic self-concept (ahmed, 1986) and self-esteem scales questionnaire, (rifai, ward, borden, & wilson, 1995) were used. results showed that punctual students had significantly superior academic achievement than truant students. academic self-concept has positive relationship with the self-esteem of the students regardless of being truant and punctual. self-competence, self-acceptance, and academic self-competence as domains of self-esteem were found predictors self-concept in truant students, whiles self-acceptance and social and physical self-acceptance were significant predictors of self-concept for punctual students. truancy/punctuality did not play a moderating for self-esteem in predicting academic self-concept. limitations, implications of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed. this study would be beneficial for educational and clinical setting to enhance self-esteem to improve upon academic success of students.