Methods: The study was carried out among adolescents attending secondary schools from two
cities; (Enugu and Abakiliki located in south eastern part of Nigeria) within age range of 10-19 yr. A
structured self administered questionnaire developed from self esteem scores was used for data
collection.
Pearson’s chi-square was used to test for relationship between categorical variables while student
t- test was used to test significant relationship between continuous variables. Test of significance
was set at p<0.5.
Results: The self esteem questionnaire used was classified into two major questions with several
sub questions. The first group is about self confidence, self fulfillment and self worth and
confidence, the second group include depression, hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts.
We enrolled 507 adolescents in this study. The mean age of all participants was 16.3 (1.2) yr. Total
mean self esteem score for all respondents is 15.77±2.769. Low self esteem was observed in 3.6%
of the respondents with 4.3% of females and 2.5% of Males. Low self esteem is mostly seen in
older adolescents aged 18-19 (44%) and rare among (adolescents less than 11 yr (0%). Low self
esteem was more common among the female respondents in all the age ranges.
Conclusion: Self esteem is high among adolescents, though this is may be overemphasized as
more research is needed in this area.
Keywords: Self esteem; adolescents; secondary schools