The Study On The Relationship Between Self-Esteem And School Adjustment Of 3-5 Mongolian Graders

Self-esteem or the sense of self-respect is a widely used concept based on individual's self-evaluation. It refers to an individual's sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person, a group or a society values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. As an indispensable part of the self-regulation psychological structure of personality, self-esteem plays an important role in various aspects of children's social development. A large amount of researches have indicated that self-esteem are closely related to individual's emotions , cognition , mental health and social adjustment. The state of low self-esteem will lead to some internal psychological problems, such as loneliness, depression, anxiety and low self-evaluation, as well as some external behavioral problems, such as aggressive/destructive behaviors, absent-mindedness, lower achievements, social isolation, shyness and behavioral withdrawal, etc. On one hand, the children who are in the state of low self-esteem will be excluded by peers and have difficulties in social interaction. One the other hand, they can't meet the basic requirement of their parents, esp. their teachers in daily life. Thus, they will be fazed by some negative emotions and won't adjust themselves to the school life successfully. To summarize, children's long-term state of low self-esteem not only affects their emotional experiences, but affects their future behavior and psychological regulation under the same circumstance. Therefore, the present study is to systematically explore the characteristics of self-esteem, school adjustment and the relationship between them. 338 3-5 Mongolian graders, who are in the multivariate cultural background, were drawn in the study, whose purpose is to provide more materials and facts to the cross-cultural research and self-esteem psychology. The main findings from the present study are as follows: 1. There is no significant difference in the overall self-esteem between the 3-5 Mongolian graders and the 3-5 Han graders. As for the school adjustment, Mongolian primary students have significantly more negative learning behaviors, social behaviors, aggressive behaviors and sensitive behaviors. 2.There is no significant difference in the overall self-esteem between 3-5 Mongolian male graders and female graders. Boys have significantly more self-esteem on appearance and sports than girls, and girls have significantly more on discipline than boys. As for the school adjustment, boys' negative learning behaviors and aggressive behaviors are significantly more than girls', and girls'sensitive behaviors are significantly more than boys'. 3. There is no significant difference in the overall self-esteem among different graders. The development of self-esteem presents an obvious "Λ" shape. It rises from Grade 3 to Grade 4, and then drops from Grade 4 to Grade 5. As for the school adjustment, 3rd graders have significantly more negative learning behaviors, aggressive behaviors and sensitive behaviors than 4thgraders, and 4th graders have more than 5th graders. 4. Hometown plays an important role in the development of self-esteem and school adjustment of 3-5 Mongolian graders. Children coming from cities have significantly more self-esteem on appearance, achievements and overall self-esteem than those from villages. The former have significantly more social abilities and social behaviors than the latter, while the latter have significantly more negative learning behaviors and aggressive behaviors 5. Parents' education also plays an important role in the development of self-esteem and school adjustment of 3-5 Mongolian graders. If parents receive a better education, their children will possibly have a higher self-esteem. It differs in appearance, achievements and the overall self-esteem significantly. Similarly, if parents receive a better education, their children will possibly have a better school adjustment. It differs in negative learning behaviors, aggressive behaviors and social abilities extremely significantly 6. The self-esteem of 3-5 Mongolian graders are significantly related to the school adjustment. Regression analysis indicates that social abilities, social behaviors and sensitive behaviors are the crucial factors which affect the self-esteem of Mongolian primary school students.