Achievement Motivation, Self-Esteem and Adjustment Problems of Rural Adolescents: An Empirical Study

The present study aimed at finding out the role of Gender and SES on achievement motivation, self-esteem and adjustment problems of adolescents. A 2(Gender) ×2 (SES) factorial design was used to conduct the research. A total number of one hundred and twenty students, including 60 boys and 60 girls, studying in class IX and X of Odia medium schools from rural Odisha were administered the Kuppuswamy Socioeconomic Status Scale (Kuppuswamy, 1976). On the basis of their scores on the scale, 29 boys and 26 girls belonged to High SES group and 31 boys and 34 girls fell into Low SES group. Rao's Achievement Motivation Test (Rao, 1974), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and The School Adjustment Inventory (Sinha & Singh, 1971) were administered on the subjects. Results revealed significant effect of Gender on all the three variables. Even though boys had higher achievement motivation, they had lower self-esteem and more adjustment problems compared to that of the girls. Inter-correlation among self-esteem, achievement motivation and adjustment problems of adolescents were also found to be significant. The findings were discussed in terms of gender role stereotypes tagged up with the process of socialization, discriminatory classroom practices and developmental changes during adolescence. Major implications were highlighted.