According to self-worth theory and the characteristic of nursing education, this study attempted to build a path model including defensive pessimist, learning anxiety and master involvement. Data were collected from 411 students and analyzed by structural equation modeling and simultaneous analysis of several groups. The results of this study were as follows: (1) The research model fitted the observed data well. (2) Relative to low academic self-esteem, high academic self-esteem subjects using defensive reflectivity restrained learning anxiety and involved more effort to get higher grade. Implications for theory, practice and research are discussed.