Ego-Strength and Self-Concept among Adolescents: A Study on Gender Differences

Self-concept refers to an individual’s thoughts, ideas, views, images and/or perceptions about him/herself. This comprises of social or personal identity of an individual and his/her personality traits. A person having a positive self-concept will have a positive image of him/herself maintaining the congruency between the real self (who s/he really is) and the ideal self (who s/he wants to become) on the contrary individuals having a negative image of self suffer discrepancy between the real and the ideal self. Ego-strength is the extent of effectiveness with which our ego works in regulating the impulses and adjusting to the environment. It seeks balance while delaying the gratification of needs. Individuals low on ego-strength lack motivation and confidence believing themselves to be incompetent whereas people high on ego-strength are motivated, resilient and confident seeking to fulfill challenges by believing in themselves and their abilities. This investigation was an attempt to study the effect of gender on self-concept and ego-strength among adolescents, aged 18-22 years. The sample consisted of 120 adolescents (60 females and 60 males) randomly selected from private colleges of Chandigarh. Tools used were C-Factor of 16- PF ( Cattell & Eber, 1962) which measures the whole range of personality (Factor C i.e. emotional stability vs. high ego strength) and Six- Factor Self-Concept Scale (SFSCS; Stakes, 1994) that assesses the self-concept and perceptions of an individual regarding him/herself across six domains/constructs i.e. Task accomplishment, morality, vulnerability, power, giftedness & likeability. The hypothesis stated that: a) female adolescents will be higher on self-concept as compared to the male adolescents age ranging from 18-22 years and b) the female adolescents will be higher on ego-strength as compared to their male counterparts. Findings of the study indicated: a) That female adolescents were higher on self-concept as compared to male adolescents age ranging from 18-22 years b) There was no significant difference in the ego-strength among the female and male adolescents significantly proving the first hypothesis true.