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Master Thesis
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| Author |
Koh, Sheila Siok Yen |
| Title | The influence of parents and peers on the self-esteem of delinquent adolescents. |
| Institute | Thesis (M.A.) (Applied Psychology) National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University |
| Year | 2004 |
| Supervisor | Lim, Kam Ming |
| Call no. | BF724.3.S35 Koh |
Summary
Self-esteem is a powerful human need that makes an essential contribution to the life process and is indispensable for healthy development. This study examines the period of adolescence, where individuals are going through a transitional period and experience much uncertainty and distress, in particular the delinquent adolescent, where issues of self-esteem would be more important in helping them through this stage.
The influence of parents and peers on the self-esteem of delinquent adolescents in Singapore is examined. Participants were a group of 19 males and 27 females juvenile delinquents residing in residential Homes for reasons due to Beyond Parental Control (BPC) or Juvenile Arrest Cases (JAC). Their self-esteem was measured using the Self-Esteem Checklist and their parent and peer attachments were measured using two other instruments, the Inventory of Parent Attachment and the index of Peer Relations. Correlations were computed to find out which factors were significantly related to levels of self-esteem.
The main findings of the study were that peer attachments were significantly related to delinquent adolescent's total, general and peer self-esteem. Parent attachments did not appear to play a major role in delinquent adolescent's level of self-esteem. Relationship with parents was only significantly related to aspects of delinquent adolescent's home self-esteem. The results supported Kaplan's (1978) self-enhancement theory, which is applicable to explaining delinquent adolescent self-esteem. It states that adolescents have a need to feel good about themselves, when this is not met by positive appraisals from having good relationships with parents, they will seek peers to enhance their self-esteem. Adolescents', who have poor attachments to their parents, also have a tendency to have low self-esteem and further leads to them engaging in deviant behavior.
An important implication from this study is that for delinquent adolescents, their self-esteem is more closely related to their relationship with their peers. Therefore if our focus is to help these adolescents increase their self-esteem and prevent them from engaging in further deviant behavior, we need to target programmes, which involve these youth and their friends, planning constructive activities that they are interested in and can be involved together.
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