AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND SELF-CONCEPT AMONG HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS

Abstract

The present study attempts to investigate the status of family environment and self-concept on the basis of gender and the relationship between family environment and self concept of Higher Secondary students of  Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu, South India. The investigation involved 122 students through random sampling  in the age group of 16 to 18 years. The sample consisted of 75 male students ( 61 % ) and 47 female (39% ) students. The tools for data collection were Family Environment Scale (FES) by Harpreet and N.R. Chadha (1998) and Self-concept Scale (SCS) by M.M. Mukhopadhyay and D.N. Sansanwal (1983). Questionnaires were designed on the basis of the instruments.  Descriptive statistics and  Pearson correlation were used for analyzing the data. The results manifested that there is no significant difference in family environment on the basis of gender among Higher Secondary Students whereas there is significant difference in self-concept among them. Further, it was inferred that self-concept of students is positively correlated with the dimensions of family environment, viz., cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, acceptance and caring, independence and control except active recreational orientation.

Key words: Family Environment, Self-Concept, Gender, Higher Secondary students.