Medium of Instruction, Socio-economic Status and Self-esteem among Young Adults

By : Subhashree Das, Bhaswati Patnaik

Page No: 21-29

Abstract
The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine how Medium of Instruction (MOI) and Socio-Economic Status (SES) influence self-esteem among young adults. The sample consisted of 120 postgraduate students, out of which 60 were educated in Odia-medium and 60 in English-medium schools. Within each MOI group, participants were further divided based on their SES. The study used the Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Modified Kuppuswamy Socio-Economic Status Scale (Sood & Bindra, 2022) to assess self-esteem and SES, respectively. A 2 (Odia MOI × English MOI) × 2 (High SES × Low SES) factorial design was used for data analysis. The results indicated that only SES had a significant main effect on self-esteem scores. In other words, regardless of MOI, high SES participants had significantly higher meanscore in self-esteem compared to their low SES counterparts. Further, the interaction of MOI and SES was also found to be significant. Post-hoc analysis revealed that in the English MOI group, students from high SES scored significantly higher in self esteem, compared to their low SES counterparts. However, no significant difference in self-esteem was found between high and low SES students in the Odia-medium group of participants. These findings suggested that the low self-esteem associated with vernacular medium of instructions, as reported in previous studies, might not be so pronounced during young adulthood as it does during early academic career.

Authors
Subhasree Das : Research Scholar, School of Psychology, Gangadhar Meher University, Amruta Vihar, Sambalpur, Odisha.
Bhaswati Patnaik : Head, Department of Psychology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JPR.2026.21.01.3