Self-esteem of adolescents residing in orphanages, single parent families and intact families: Gender differentials

Pages: 118-121
Rashmi Upreti and Seema Sharma (Department of Human Development & Family Studies, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab)

The present study assessed and compared the gender wise differences in self-esteem of adolescents residing in orphanages, single parent families and intact families. Sample was selected from four selected cities of Punjab (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, & Hoshiarpur). A sample of 100 school going adolescents were randomly picked up from the selected orphanages. Also, 200 adolescents were selected from the government schools belonging to single parent families and intact families. The sample was equally distributed over the two genders (Boys=50 & Girls=50). Therefore, total sample comprised of 300 respondents in the age group of 14-16 years. Coppersmith self-esteem inventory was used to measure the self-esteem of adolescents. Significant gender differences were found among the adolescents residing in intact families, where, the general self-esteem, school academic self-esteem and overall selfesteem of boys were found higher as compared to their female counterparts. Thus, concluded that the self-esteem of adolescents could be boosted up by the care and support of the parents/care-givers.