A Descriptive Survey on the Self-Concept of the School-Going Adolescent of Purulia District

Abstract

The study of ‘self-concept’ helps in understanding human behaviour; it has been recognized as a potent means for making a deep study of personality. Self-Concept Inventory (SCI) (Shah (1986)) was administered on a random sample of 1083 school-going adolescent, selected from 50 Government, Government Sponsored and Government Aided schools of Purulia district. The results showed that the students expressed their High Self-Concept in all ten dimensions of SCI including Self-Concept in totality. Probably, this simple and unpretentious behaviour is the modal characteristics of the people of Purulia district – being a permanent inhabitant of Purulia the researcher also feels so.

Introduction

I. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE STUDY

According to Harter (1999) self-esteem is an evaluative indicator of the self. Marsh (1989) uses the terms self-concept and self-descriptions in his extensive research in measurement of this construct. While it is recognised there are varying views on definitions. In each case of the definition self-esteem/self-concept/self-perceptions is accepted as a multidimensional construct made up of domain specific perceptions of self (physical, social, and cognitive). In addition there is general self-concept (Marsh, 1989) or global self-worth (Harter, 1999) that is separate from the other domains. Self-perceptions range from specific focus to general thoughts and emotions (Fox, 2000).

A.  Objective of the Study

The main objective of the study was to explore the present status of Self-Concept of the school going adolescent of Purulia District.

II. REVIEW ON SELF-CONCEPT

Self-concept is referred ones very own evaluation of competence, attributes and traits which are regarded in comparisons with others (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2002). Hierarchical models of self-Concept have assisted in the knowledge of Self-Concept as a multidimensional construct in preference to the formally believed unmarried-dimensional construct. Consistent with Gallahue and Ozmun (2002) self-Concept is established through the connection with teachers, parents and peers. They play a crucial role within the development of self-concept.

The researchers had found that the self concept of B.Ed. trainees is high and there is no significant difference due to gender, community, locality and optionals. The study also revealed that, the higher the qualification, higher is the self concept. In another study, the results also revealed that Female B.Ed. students of Amravati and Wardha District are comparatively better than Male B.Ed. students with respect to six dimensions namely-SSC, ESC, ASC, PISC, JRSC, SC, SCRBT (Ramesh and Thiagarajan, 2005; Nimbhorkar and Bhende, 2016)

According to Rajani (2007)  there was a significant correlation between selfconcept and job involvement of teachers. It was also observed  that  there was significant difference in relationship of self concept and job involvement between aided and unaided; rural and urban teachers.

In a study, Thankachan and Raizada (2020) founded that almost half of the missionary school secondary school student had high level of self concept and adjustment habits. It was also revealed that self concept and achievement of the secondary school students might be positively related and also that there might not be relationship between adjustment habits and achievement of secondary school students.

III. METHODS

The present study was carried out through descriptive survey method. The details regarding sample, tool, procedure of data collection and statistical technique were reported hereunder.

A. Sample

The respondents of the study were randomly selected from 50 Government, Government Sponsored and Government Aided schools of Purulia districts of West Bengal, India.  Total 1083 school-going adolescents were selected to participate to the study.

B. Tool of Research

Self Concept Inventory (SCI) [Shah (1986)] was used as research tool in this study. The Self Concept Inventory (SCI) contains 62 items (adjectives) and 10 subscales.

The subscales are labelled Social Self-Concept (SSC: 8 items), Emotional Self-Concept (ESC: 13 items), Physical Self-Concept (PSC: 3 items), Cognitive Self-Concept (CSC: 6 items), Aesthetic Self-Concept (ASC: 4 items), Political Self-Concept (PISC: 5 items), Job Related Self-Concept (JRSC: 9 items), Self-Confidence (SC: 4 items), Self-Concept Related to Beliefs and Traditions (SCRBT: 5) and Self-Concept Related to Personality Traits (SCRPT: 5). Respondents rate the extent to which they agree with each of the 62 items using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Item scores are averaged within each subscale, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of self concept on each dimension.

Clearly the dimensions are consisted of unequal number of items. The mean score of each dimension is made comparable by normalizing.

The normalization procedure is as follows:

Normalized Mean = sum of the item responses in a dimension / number of total items of the dimension.

Therefore Maximum score of each dimension is 5 and minimum is 1 therefore mid value is 3.

The mean of each dimension may be interpreted as –

1. Very  Low Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 1.00 to 1.99,
2. Low Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 2.00 to 2.99,
3. High Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 3.00 to 3.99
4. Very High Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 4.00 to 5.00

Again, in case of Self-Concept in totality the mean may be interpreted as –

a. Very Low Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 10.00 to 19.99,

b.  Low Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 20.00 to 29.99,

c. High Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 30.00 to 39.99

d. Very High Self-Concept when the mean falls in the range of 40.00 to 50.00

C. Procedure for Data Collection

The heads of the institutions were contacted for his/her permission to allow collecting the necessary data. The relevant data were collected by administering the above-mentioned tool on the subjects under study in accordance with the directions provided in the manual of the tool.   

IV. RESULT

The results of the study is presented herewith.

Table-4.1: Descriptive Statistics of Scores of Different Facets of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) Scores of the Female Learners.

Table-4.1 depicts the descriptive statistics of the different dimensions  and sum total of all of the dimension  of  Self Concept Inventory (SCI) scores of the female Students of the Study Group (SG) and the Male Studentsog the Reference Group (RG) Considering as a whole. In case of the Social Self-Concept “minimum” of the scores was 1.00  and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.51 and 0.652 respectively. Then in case of Emotional Self-Concept the “minimum” of the scores was 2.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 3.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.22 and 0.474 respectively. Next, in case of Physical Self-Concept Test the “minimum” of the scores was 1.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.32 and 0.789 respectively. In case of Cognitive Self-Concept  the “minimum” of the scores was 1.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.33 and 0.652 respectively. In Aesthetic Self-Concept  the “minimum” of the scores was 1.00  and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.33 and 0.751 respectively. In case of the Political Self-Concept “minimum” of the scores was 1.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.07 and 0.591 respectively. Then in case of Job Related Self-Concept  the “minimum” of the scores was 2.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 3.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.35 and 0.616 respectively. Next, in case of Self-Confidence Test the “minimum” of the scores was 1.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.31 and 0.749 respectively. In case of Self-Concept Related to Beliefs and Traditions the “minimum” of the scores was 2.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 3.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.35 and 0.642 respectively. In Self-Concept Related to Personality Traits the “minimum” of the scores was 1.00 and the “maximum” of those was 5.00 and the range was 4.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 3.39 and 0.671 respectively. In Self-Concept the “minimum” of the scores was 20.00 and the “maximum” of those was 44.00 and the range was 24.00; the “mean” and “standard deviation” of the said distribution were 33.18 and 3.221 respectively.

From the figure-4.1 it is observed that the distribution of the self-concept scores of the school-going adolescents of Purulia district was near to normal; this reflects that the sample was representative.

V. DISCUSSIONS

From the results of table-4.1 it was observed that the students of Purulia district expressed their High Self-Concept in all dimensions and Self-Concept in totality.

The students of Purulia district think themselves as highly – (i) social, cooperative, friendly, responsible, social worker, frank, fashionable and popular; (ii) kind, jealous, cheerful, brave, calm, confident, flexible, trustful, practical, sensitive, excited, peaceful and neutral; (iii) sober, competent and healthy; (iv) literature loving, skilled in conversation, determined, creative and studious; (v) jolly, exposed, attractive and beautiful; (vi) democratic, impartial, possessing leadership quality, sympathetic and politics loving; (vii) honest, just, laborious, obedient, careful, dutiful, liberal, reliable and dominating; (viii) independent, courageous, risk taker and firm; (ix) laborious, truthful, religious, normal and modest; (x) as highly humble, cautious, well behaved, and balanced and open minded.

Conclusion

From the results of descripitive presentation it might be concluded that the school going adolescents of Purulia district were in possession with highly constructed self-concept. Geographically Purulia district is situated at a part of Chotanagpur pleatau; here the land scape is wavy and soils is stony. There are much scarcity of natural resources in this district. So, here the inhabitants have to depend mainly on agricultural activities for their livelihood for generation after generation; but here only one crop, paddy, is yield. So, here the economic activity remains the same as it were in precolonial period. The social structure and culture activities also remain with ageold serenity. The modal personality of the inhabitants of Purulia is very simple and modest. Considering this background the results of the present study may be justified.

References

[1] Fox, K. R. (2000). Self-esteem, Self-perceptions and exercise. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 31, 228-240. [2] Gallahue, D.L., and Ozmun, J.C. (2002). Understanding Motor Development: Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Adults. (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill. [3] Harter, S. (1999). The Construction of the Self: A Developmental Perspective. New York, NY: The Guildford Press. [4] Marsh, H. W. (1989). Age and sex effects in multiple dimensions of self-concept: Preadolescence to early adulthood. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3): 417- 430. [5] Nimbhorkar, S. and Bhende, R. G. (2016). To Study the Self-Concept of B.Ed. Student in Amravati And Wardha Districts, International Education & Research Journal, 2(12): 142–146. [6] Rajani, P. (2007). A study of Self Concept as a correlates of job involvement among secondary school teachers. M.Ed. Thesis, University of Calicut [7] Ramesh, R. and Ponnambala, T. A. (2005). A study of self concept of B.Ed. Trainees. Edu. Tracks, June 2005. [8] Shah, B. (1986). Manual for Self-concept inventory (adult). Agra Psychological Research Cell, Agra. [9] Thankachan, A. and Raizada, R. (2020). A Study of the Influence of Self Concept and Adjustment Habits on Achievement of Higher Secondary School Students, International Journal of Creative Research and Thought (IJCRT), 8(8): 3320–3327.

Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Sajal Kumar Char, Prodip Karmakar, Sushanta Mahato, Samirranjan Adhikari. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.