Self-Esteem in School Management Students with Special Reference to Gender and Age

Basile Mulwani Makelele^1,

¹Department of Psychology, University of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cite this paper:
Basile Mulwani Makelele. Self-Esteem in School Management Students with Special Reference to Gender and Age. American Journal of Applied Psychology. 2024; 12(1):1-13. doi: 10.12691/ajap-12-1-1

Abstract

Currently, higher education and university students constitute a sensitive group facing psychological issues, given the educational and socio-economic crisis affecting several countries. Students in health and humanities, especially those in psychology and school management, are more vulnerable compared to students in other fields because they work with a dynamic being conditioned by the multiple changes in their environment. Assessing their self-esteem helps evaluate their psychosocial behaviors as a dynamic element of conation that signals the nature of mental health. Our research problem is formulated as follows: (i) What is the level of self-esteem among school management students at ISP/L'shi? And (ii) what factor most influences the development of self-esteem in these students? The objectives of this study are to: (i) measure the level of self-esteem among school management students, and (ii) determine, between age and gender, the factor that most influences the development of self-esteem in these students as future school managers. The observation method was materialized by Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) as the data collection technique. Content analysis and the chi-square statistical test were used for data analysis. Our study sample consisted of 72 students (44 females and 28 males; aged 19 to 32) attending the School Management and Training Institutions program at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Lubumbashi. The results show notable disparities in self-esteem based on gender, indicating that men tend to display more negative self-esteem than women. There is a significant correlation between students' gender and their self-esteem. Regarding age, the results suggest that older students tend to have weaker self-esteem. In conclusion, these findings call for a thoughtful consideration of approaches to self-esteem management and development in the educational context to promote the mental health and personal development of future school managers.

Keywords:
self-esteem student gender differences age differences school management

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