Self-Esteem, Academic and Career Aspirations on the Basis of Socio-Economic Status of Adolescents

The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship of socio-economic status on self-esteem, academic and career aspirations of adolescents. Sample consists of 269 adolescents at the age group of 14-17 years, belongs to high and low socio-economic status, studying in various higher secondary schools, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. Schools were selected randomly from the rural, semi-urban and urban areas. The instruments used were Self-esteem Inventory (Thomas and Sanandaraj, 1981), academic and career aspirations checklist and personal data sheet constructed for the purpose of this study. The modified Kuppuswamy scale updated in the year 2018 was used to assess the socio-economic status (SES) of families. The scale measures the education, occupation and total family income of the adolescents. 138 adolescents belong to high SES and 131 adolescents from low SES.  The results show that there is significant difference on self-esteem and career aspiration between low and high socio-economic status. It also shows highly significant difference in academic achievement of low and high socioeconomic groups. There is no significant difference in the self-esteem, career aspiration and academic achievement between two genders of high socio-economic status groups. Among the low socio-economic status group, there is no significant difference in career aspiration and academic achievement but there is highly significant gender difference in the self- esteem.