Adolescents' Self-Esteem: Assessment of the Roles of Gender and Parenting Style in Damaturu, Yobe State Shettima Alhaji Umar

Abstract

This study will assess the roles of Gender and Parenting Style in relation to Adolescents' Self-Esteem in
Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria. A healthy level of self-esteem is essential for adolescents' mental health,
academic achievement, and interpersonal relationships. However, various factors, including religiosity,
gender, and parenting style, significantly influence self-esteem during this formative stage. The study was
to identify the combined effects of gender and parenting style on adolescents' self-esteem. A multi stage
sampling techniques was employed in this study with the use of structured questionnaire and SPSS for
analysis. In which two hundred and eighty (299) respondents drawn from four (4) public and private senior
secondary schools (SSS) Students in Damaturu, Yobe state. The schools are: Government Girls’ Unity
College Damaturu, Government Secondary School Damaturu, Legacy Schools Damaturu and New
Foundation Schools Damaturu (70 respondents each). The study findings revealed that parenting style
played significant role in adolescents’ self-esteem the mean comparisons show that adolescents with
authoritative parents showed higher self-esteem than adolescents with permissive parents or authoritative
parents. Authoritative parenting is likely to be correlated with other factors unaccounted for such as being
well informed about parenting which contributes to building higher self-esteem in children. There was no
significant role of gender on self-esteem of adolescents. The study proffer these recommendations that
Parents should adopt parenting styles that balance discipline with emotional support, fostering confidence
and self-worth in adolescents, the Schools should integrate programs that would promote gender equality
and self-esteem building into the curriculum, the Policymakers should develop community-based initiatives
to educate parents and guardians on effective parenting techniques and their impact on adolescent
development and among others.