Assessment of Self Esteem among School Children

Self-esteem is an essential human need that is vital for survival and normal healthy development. It arises automatically from within based upon a persons beliefs and consciousness and occurs in conjunction with a persons thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and actions. The main objective of the study was to assess and compare the development of self-esteem among male and female children with respect to viz personal, social, emotional, academic, intellectual and moral aspects. A questionnaire was developed by the group of investigators for the purpose of studying development of self esteem among school children. The sample comprised of 300 school children out of which 150 were boys and 150 were girls, between the age range of 10-14 years who were studying in 5th 6th and 7th standard. The statistical analysis was carried out by applying percentages, mean, standard deviation, Chi square and t test. The results revealed that, majority of male respondents between the age range of 10 to 14 years showed medium level of self esteem. There is a significant difference between male and female respondents with regard to social, intellectual and moral aspects. Further, the study revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female respondents with regard to personal, emotional and academic aspects. There is no significant association between age and self esteem among male and female respondents.