SELF-CONCEPT AND LEVEL OF EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Adolescents face a number of challenges in terms of the various physical, psychological, sexual, mental and emotional changes that they go through during this time. This could result in a poor self-concept, leading to graver problems like role-confusion, loss of identity, sexual or mental health problems etc. It is important that individuals possess a positive notion of the self since the very beginning. Especially for adolescents, self-concept is also a predictor of how aspiring they may be in terms of their education and career. Thus, the present study “Self-concept and level of educational aspiration among adolescents” was envisaged to assess the self-concept and level of educational aspiration of adolescents. The main aim of the study was to find out if self-concept has an impact on the level of educational aspiration of adolescents. The study was conducted in the Government and Private schools of a city in India. 300 adolescents in the age group of 13-18 years were selected and sampled according to the random sampling technique. Out of the total 300, 150 students were selected from Government schools and 150 from Private schools. The number was further divided on the basis of their gender i.e. 75 girls and 75 boys. Two tools, Selfconcept Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Level of Educational Aspiration Test (LEAT) were used to carry out the study. Mean, standard deviation, chi-square and fisher exact test were used for the statistical analysis of the data. The major finding of the study was that the self-concept of adolescents had an effect on their level of educational aspiration. Other findings showed that there was only a slight difference in the self-concept and level of educational aspiration between adolescents studying in Government schools and those studying in Private schools. It also showed that mostly, girls have a better self-concept and level of educational aspiration than the boys. The study even proved that there is no association between the self-concept and level of educational aspiration among adolescents in the age group of 13-15 years and 16-18 years.