Self-Esteem among Children with and without Alcohol Dependency Syndrome Parents

Self-esteem is defined as “a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the self.” It refers to how much value individuals place on themselves, or the degree to which they feel worthy or unworthy. The comparison of self-esteem between children of parents with Alcohol Dependency Syndrome (ADS) and those with non-ADS parents highlights the detrimental consequences of growing up in an environment affected by alcohol abuse, as well as the importance of protective factors that may mitigate these effects. In the present study, a total of 360 children, equally distributed between the two groups -children with ADS parents and children with non-ADS parents were recruited. The Self-Esteem Scale (SESc) developed by Roopa and Sairabanu (2001) was used to collect data from the selected samples. The SESc-20 measured children’s self-esteem across six domains: Personal, Social, Emotional, Academic, Intellectual, and Moral. A two-way ANOVA was employed to determine the influence of group (ADS vs. non-ADS) and gender on self-esteem scores. The results revealed that children of ADS parents had significantly lower self-esteem scores across all domains, compared to children of non-ADS parents, except for the Intellectual domain. Additionally, gender significantly influenced self-esteem scores; girls had higher self-esteem scores in all domains, except for the Intellectual and Moral domains. Furthermore, it was observed that boys of ADS parents had lower self-esteem scores than the other groups.