A comparative study on self-esteem among tribal and non-tribal students in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka, India

Self esteem is defined as the positive or negative attitude about self, the degree of liking or satisfaction within self, and owns feeling of perceived worth as compared with others. Healthy self-esteem is important to be successful and happy throughout one’s life. The aim of this study was to compare the self esteem among tribal and non-tribal student in Udupi Taluk. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in November 2012 in government school of Brahmavar, Udupi Taluk. Study participants were students of class eight, nine and ten. One school was randomly selected from the list of government schools in Brahmavar. The size of the sample was 76 which includes 38 from tribal category and 38 from general category and the sampling design was purposive sampling. Rosenberg’s scale was used to assess the self esteem of students. Questionnaires were self administered. Permission was taken from the principle of school. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 15. Results are reported as frequency and proportion. Independent t test was used to compare the self esteem of tribal and non tribal student. Study found that more than two third of the tribal student had low self esteem. There was statistically significant difference (p