The role of self-esteem in predicting psychological well-being among senior secondary school adolescents in Anambra state: A gender perspective

The purpose of this study was to establish self-esteem as the predictor of psychological well-being of senior secondary school adolescents in Anambra State, Nigeria, with reference to gender distinctions. The type of research used was correlational research design. The state was chosen because of relatively high level of adolescent maladaptive behaviors, the state comprises 21 local government areas and 6 educational zones, with 262 number of public secondary schools. A sample of 763 senior secondary two students, 396 male and 367 female were used in the study and was arrived at after a population of 20,889 senior secondary two students had been sampled through multistage and strata random sampling. Information was gathered through questionnaire, specifically the Self Esteem Evaluating Rating Scale (SEERS) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWS). Both the instruments showed high reliability, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the pre-test questionnaire in this study was 0.81 and 0.86, respectively. The researcher with the help of five assistants obtained 749 completed questionnaires thus having a high response rate. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data and determine the predictors’ strength and to conduct hypothesis testing at 0.05 significance level. The study concluded that self-esteem has a significant relationship with adolescents’ psychological well-being in senior secondary school in Anambra State. Specifically, self-esteem explained 31.7% of the totality of the variance psychological well-being, 7% is caused by internet usage. In the same regard, self-esteem was mutually having a moderately positive though significant correlation with Masculinity for males: (R = 0.517) which represented 26% of variance in Masculinity for males. 7% of the variance. Females’ association was modest (R = 0.484) accounting for 23 percent. The potential influence of anxiety in males should be additionally investigated. 4% of the variance. The results suggest that, although self-esteem is obviously an important factor for both male subjects and female ones, self-esteem plays a more significant role in males. Therefore, the study calls for interventions that may help improve self-esteem, and other areas of psychological well-being for the sexes while considering the specific gender-related difficulties they face.