Enhancement Of Adolescents' Self-Esteem by Intervention Module

Self-Esteem (SE) is an evaluative component of self-concept, A person having healthy SE enjoys physical and mental health (Brown et al., 1990; Rutter, 1992), higher levels of academic achievement (Lockett & Harrell, 2003; Wong & Watkins, 2001) and escalated performance level (McMillan, Singh & Simonnetta, 2001). The formation of SE and shaping of personality is of pronounced significance during the adolescent period. If adolescents are given suitable instructions/intervention during this period; their SE levels can be elevated, which will affect their personality development. The present study was undertaken to enhance the SE level of adolescent students by introducing an intervention module; developed by the investigator. Initially, a purposive sample of 416 boys and 242 girls of 8th and 9th standard was taken. The Co-opersmith SE inventory (CSEI) was administered (pre-test). Students having low levels of SE (<25%) were screened out and divided into experimental and control group randomly (N = 155). The experimental group was given intervention module for 15 sessions; each session lasted for 45 min. At the end, the CSEI was again administered on both the groups (post-test). Results are analyzed with the help of t test. Significant differences were obtained between the pre-test and post-test SE means for experimental groups comprising of boys and girls group, boys group, and girls group. A significant t value between the mean SE difference for experimental and control group was also observed. These results indicated efficacy of the intervention module. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed between the pre-test and post-test means of the control group.