A STUDY OF SELF ESTEEM AND DEFENSE MECHANISM OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The present study was carried out to explore the relationship between self-esteem and defense mechanisms used by secondary school students. The aim of the study was to ascertain relationship between self-esteem and five categories of defense mechanisms i. e. turning against object (TAO), projection (PRO), turning against self (TAS), principalisation (PRN) and reversal (REV). The study also aimed at finding differences between the level of self -esteem and defense mechanisms of male and female students. The sample included 77 girls and 73 boys students of secondary level (Total 150) selected randomly from four schools of Amritsar district, Punjab, India. Defense mechanism Inventory by Dr. N. R. Mrinal and Dr. Uma Mrinal was used for data collection of defense mechanism, while Self-Esteem Scale developed by R.N Singh and Ankita Shrivastava was employed to assess the level of self-esteem of students. Data analysis revealed that there is no significant correlation between self-esteem and defense mechanism in female students and overall sample of secondary school students; however a significant correlation was obtained between these two variables in case of male secondary students in TAO, PRO and REV category of defenses. No significant difference in the scores of self-esteem and defense mechanism of male and female students was found.