The effect of family environment on self-esteem of adolescents in relation to their socioeconomic status

The present study was conducted to find out the effect of family environment on self- esteem of adolescents in relation to their gender and socio-economic status. For this study the data was collected by using tools- Family Environment Scale (FES) by Sanjay Vohra and Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI) by Coppersmith. The main objective of this study was to find out the extent to which family environment of an individual affects his/her self-esteem. Socio-economic differences between this relationship were also studied. Total sample consisted of 108 class XI standard of the age group 15-17 years were taken from both private and government schools of Delhi on the basis of their parent’s education and occupation. Data was analyzed by product- moment correlation coefficient method. The result of this study indicates that cohesion, expressiveness and independence dimensions of family environment have crucial impact on the adolescents’ self-esteem. However, the organisation dimension did not seem to be related to self-esteem. The relationship of cohesion with self-esteem differed significantly with respect to socio-economic status of the participants. Socio-economic differences had also been obtained in the relationship of expressiveness and self-esteem.