Gender Identity and Self Esteem among Educated Young Adults

By : Aparna Bhattacharya, Archana Shukla

Page No: 259-269

Abstract
Gender identity influences one’s overt and covert behaviors in many ways. It entails one’s personal and subjective experience of own gender. If one’s self esteem is high then one would love, care and prize oneself; if, in contrast, one is unhappy or distressed over some personal aspects, one could be rash and brash with respect to self care, health and relationships. The present research explored gender identity and self esteem; gender and age related differences in gender identity (masculinity and femininity scores); and gender, age and gender identity related differences in self esteem. In nutshell, it attempted to explore association between gender identity and self esteem. The findings from ANOVAs revealed some interesting results like more males are androgynous while more females continue to be feminine, females higher on femininity than males, females higher on self esteem than males. Thus, the present study is a progressive step to empower and enable our valuable youth, to make them responsible, healthier, and safe and sound in various aspects of life.

Authors :
Aparna Bhattacharya : UGC-SRF, Department of Psychology, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India.
Archana Shukla : Faculty in Charge GFATM R7 and Professor, Department of Psychology, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India