Self Esteem and Emotional Maturity among Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of rapid growth, development and maturation from childhood to adulthood. During this transition period, dramatic changes happen in them physically, psychologically which can leads to alteration in emotional maturity and self esteem. This descriptive study was conducted to assess the emotional maturity and self esteem among 510 adolescent boys and girls aged between thirteen to nineteen years from Government Boys and Girls Higher Secondary School at Trivandrum, Kerala. Subjects were recruited by convenient sampling method and data were collected using pretested validated and reliable standardized scales on emotional maturity and self esteem. The results showed that nearly half of the subjects (43%) had moderately stable and 38 % had unstable emotional maturity. There was a significant difference in emotional maturity domains between boys and girls in emotional instability (19.7±2 vs15.3±2.6; p=0.000), social conflict (20.3±2.3 vs 21.5±5.5; p=0.004) and personality breakdown (19.3±2.1 vs 21.3±6.8; p=0.000). Nearly centum of the total subjects (99%) had good self esteem and only 1 % had poor self esteem. There was a significant difference in self esteem between male and female adolescents (25.67±5.65vs 23.92±4.81; p=0.000). The study concluded that a very few adolescents had moderately stable emotional maturity and most of them had good self esteem.