The Role of Socio-Economic Status in Adolescent Resilience and Self-Esteem

Understanding the differences in adolescent resilience and self-esteem based on SES has significant implications in mental health promotion. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to discuss the self-esteem and resilience among adolescents from Enghsh Medium School (in comparison to the adolescents from Government Schools) and to understand the differences in resilience and self-esteem by SES. Adolescents from class 8th to 10th of Mangaluru Taluka (of Karnataka State in India) was the target population. Cluster random sampling was followed. 809 adolescents fromclass8th to 10thofrandomlyselectedl6schoolsfrom the Mangaluru SouthClusterwere selected. The variables were measured using CD-RISC-2 and Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 19. The mean age of the sample was 13.49 years (±1.004). The adolescents from Enghsh medium schools had moderate Resilience and Self Esteem. Significant differences existed in the adolescent Resilience and Self-esteem based on Socio-Economic Status. However, the same was not in the expected direction. The paper concludes by emphasizing the role of subjective socioeconomic status m adolescent well-being and suggests the need to explore the differences in adolescent resilience and self-esteem based on subjective Socio-Economic Status.