Self-Esteem and Psychological Distress among Sexually Abused and Sexually Non-Abused Adolescents

The study was intended to assess self-esteem and psychological distress of sexually abused and sexually non-abused adolescents. The objectives of the study were to determine the significance of the relationship between self-esteem and psychological distress of sexually abused and sexually non-abused adolescents, and to assess significant differences in self-esteem and psychological distress. The tools used comprised of the Personal data sheet, Self-esteem scale, and the Brief Symptom Inventory which were administered on a sample of 80 adolescents from Goa - 40 of whom who had experienced some form of sexual abuse and 40 of whom who had never experienced any form of sexual abuse. Karl Pearson-s Product Moment Correlation and t-test were used for analysis. Results indicated a significant and negative correlation between self-esteem and psychological distress of sexually abused adolescents, a negative correlation between self-esteem and psychological distress of sexually non-abused adolescents, self-esteem differed significantly with sexually abused having a lower self-esteem than sexually non-abused adolescents, psychological distress differed significantly with sexually abused having higher levels of psychological distress than sexually non-abused adolescents.