CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Adolescents face a number of unique developmental challenges, including coping with sudden changes in their bodies, managing their sexual interests, forming new kinds of relationships, and planning their academic and occupational futures. However Gender affects how they manage all of these challenges. Gender differences start at a very young age, and due to differences in gender roles and physical development, impact adolescents' body image and self-esteem differently between female and male gender. These differences may to some extent be attributed to the different roles and expectations that adolescents have learned; for example, parents may perceive the use of aggressive and confrontational coping strategies as acceptable for males but not for females.

Self-esteem is a large part of adolescents’ self-understanding; it is dynamic and susceptible to internal and external influences during adolescence. Gender roles influence adolescents' self-esteem. While self-confidence is a stereotypical male feature, the presentation of self-confidence by girls is considered a breach of traditional gender roles. Therefore, it is not surprising that boys report higher self-esteem than girls. Boys are more likely to be in situations that encourage competition, conflict, power, and excitement, where as girls are more likely to encounter situations of intimacy, self-disclosure, support, and co-rumination. While girls tend to develop emotions related to internalizing problems, boys tend to develop emotions related to externalizing them. A consideration of the body ideal for males (muscular and lean) and females (thin) can explain why adolescent girls report more dissatisfaction with their bodies than boys. Body dissatisfaction can have harmful emotional, psychological and physiological effects. During adolescence, girls appear to be more vulnerable than boys) to the negative psychological health effects of stress; they present significantly higher levels of adaptation, depressive symptomatically and eating disorders. Boys tend to display a higher prevalence of externalized behavioral problems, such as aggression, antisocial behavior and delinquency (Baron AS, Schmader T, Cvencek D & Meltzoff AN 2014). The self-concept is comprised of six dimensionsincluding, physical, moral, social, personal, academic and family. Self-concept is a multifaceted belief system where selfevaluation is done in relation to the environment. Researchersstated that feeling of negative self-concept results in poorhealth, increased psychological issues and eventually more socialproblems.

 Self-concept is beyond the physical appearance of anindividual. It is comprised of spatial and temporal continuityin addition, to the terms through which they evaluate the self(Stout J, Tamer B  2016).Researchers claim that it is important for individuals to maintainthe internal consistency of the self; in order to determine theindividual interpretation of their experience and the levelof expectation of the individual) thus there is need for academic instructors to reintegrate this within the learning environment as this will enable student to achieve their academic goals.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Sense of self is a concept that explains how an individual view themselves. This however is determine by environmental, biological and psychological factors. positive sense of self manifest in high level of self-esteem while negative sense of self can lead to low self-esteem. these variable can have an impact on the education of an adolescent. Where the Student feel less in his/her academic abilities, they limit their potentials and cannot their academic achievements. On the other hand when there is positive self-esteem, it can enable the student to reach high peak of their education. Suffice to say that the degree of  sense of self varies according to gender differences. Research has shown that in adolescent stage male gender has a higher overall self esteem and self concept than female owing to the biological changes that happens at the age of puberty.

However acquiring sense of self  is similar to the acquisition of self-knowledge. Through getting self-esteem and body image an individual develops self-concept. Hence this calls for the inclusion of sense of self in educational pedagogy. Therefore it is upon this premise that these study is sent to examine the impact of sense of self

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main focus of this study is to examine the impact of sense of self in gender and education. Specifically it is set

1. To examine if biological changes from childhood to adolescence affect students’ sense of self

2. To investigate other factors that can influence Student’s sense of self

3. To determine the extent at which gender identity and role shapes Students’ self-esteem

4. To evaluate if sense of self has any significant effect on the students education and academic achievement

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The following research questions guide the study

1. Do you think  biological changes from childhood to adolescence affect students’ sense of self?

2. What are the  factors that can influence Student’s sense of self?

3. What is the extent at which gender identity and role shapes Students’ self-esteem?

4. Do you think that sense of self has a significant effect on students education and academic achievement?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be relevant to parents, teachers, counselors and curriculum planners. To parents, the study will enlighten them on the need of improving their parenting styles in a manner that promotes the self-esteem of their children. To counselors in schools, the study will enable them to look out for those student who have a low-self image about themselves as a result of several factors, helping them with their profession strategies in psychology so as to inculcate and  improve those students sense of self.To teachers, the study will enlighten them on the need to take proper cognizance and attention to their learners, in order to help them know those student whose academic abilities are low due to low self-esteem hence finding ways to improve them. Generally the study will contribute to the body of Literature and sever as a reference materials for both students and academia in a related study.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

5. The scope of this study is to examine the impact of sense of self in gender and education. It will examine if biological changes from childhood to adolescence affect students’ sense of self. It will investigate other factors that can influence Student’s sense of self. It will determine the extent at which gender identity and role shapes Students’ self-esteem. However the study is limited to a selected local government in Plateus State.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this research

Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Gender: Gender is the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).

Self-Concept: Self-concept is how you perceive your behavior, abilities, and unique characteristics.

Self-Esteem: Self-esteem is an individual's subjective evaluation of their own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame.

Education: Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits

Adolescent: Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later.

REFERENCE

 Strenke JC (2010) Self-concept and self-esteem in adolescents with learning disabilities. A research paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the masters of science in education degree.

Baron AS, Schmader T, Cvencek D, Meltzoff AN (2014) The gendered self-concept: How implicit gender stereotypes and attitudes shape self-definition. In: Leman PJ, Tenenbaum HR (eds.), Gender and development (109-132). Sussex: Psychology Press, UK.

Rubie-Davies CM, Lee K (2013) Self- concept of students in higher education: Are there differences by faculty and gender? Educational studies 39: 56-67.

Stout J, Tamer B (2016) Collaborative learning eliminates the negative impact of gender stereotypes on women's self-concept. In Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education. p. 496-496.

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