Comparative study between orphans and non-orphans on the dimension of self-concept

Pages: 1582-1587
Ridhima Duggal and Pooja Wadhawan (Department of Psychology, Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi)

Good psychological health helps adolescents to deal effectively with various adversities of life. There are a number of psychological factors such as productive dealing (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2012) being resilient and strong self-concept of the individuals that are necessary to maintain their psychological well-being. To establish this, it is important for adolescents to have social approval and support from their parents, which might help them to handle the difficult situations occurring during this period (Harter, 1999). However, in India there has been a substantial increase in the number of children who have to live in orphanages due to problems of poverty, neglect, disease and death of the parents (Faith to Action Initiative, 2014). Keeping this view in mind, a study was designed to assess the Self-concept of adolescents (15-17 years) living in orphanages and adolescents living with their families. Self-Concept questionnaire (Saraswat, 1984) was administered on both the groups. The t-value was calculated and the findings of the present study revealed that there is a significant difference in the Self-concept of Orphans and Non orphans.