SELF-CONCEPT OF ADOLESCENTS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL ADJUSTMENT

Adolescence, the transitional period between childhood and adulthood is marked by changes in the body, mind and social relationships. As adolescents confront these challenging years, they establish a self-concept; that is some sense of who they are. A strong self-concept, especially among girls, appears to be a key factor in developing good mental and physical health. Equally important is the positive impact of emotional support for all adolescents- boys and girls (Park,2003). Self-concept is a central concept in psychology ( Harter, 1983). One way to measure adolescent growth is through the level of the self-concept, which indicates how worthy individuals believe they are. Self-concept has been viewed in the present study as one’s knowledge about one’s own self in the form of an organized cognitive structure that takes into account a set of attitudes, beliefs and values. It is regarded in the form of perceptual, conceptual and attitudinal components and it is regarded as a component of personality of ‘how I see myself’, self-esteem, self-confidence and self-contentment. The present study is a noble attempt to find out the differences in social and emotional adjustment and self-concept of adolescents with sex and type of school variation and the relationship, if any, between self-concept and social and emotional adjustment, also if there exist significant differences in the high, average and low self-concept groups with respect to their social and emotional adjustment.