Sex Differences in Academic Self –Esteem of Secondary School Students in Abuja Metropolis of Nigeria

Abstract

This research investigated sex differences in academic self-esteem of secondary school students in FCT, Abuja Metropolis, of Nigeria. To achieve the objectives of this study, a total of 250 senior secondary class two (SS2) students consisting of 125 males and 125 females were randomly selected as sample for this study. The Self Descriptive Questionaire (SDQ) of Marsh, Parker and Smith, (1983) was used as the main instrument for data collection and Schiraldi’s Self-esteem Enhancement Programme (SSEEP) was used for the actual experiment. The SDQs were distributed amongst the 250 students before and after the application of the SSEEP and this study took duration of 125days.Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 significant level using the two- tailed students t-test. The results revealed that there was an improvement in the academic self-esteem levels of the students due to the application of SSEEP but there was no significant difference in academic self-esteem levels between males and females. From these results it was concluded that the SSEEP is effective in improving academic self-esteem and is useful in studies on sex differences. The results also are a pointer to the need for counselling students on the importance of high academic self-esteem.

Keywords: counselling, self-esteem, students, sex differences