Study of Self Esteem and Factors Associated among Medical Students of a Private Medical College of Karnataka: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Self-esteem refers to a person’s overall sense of his worth or value. It is how much a person “values,
approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. ”Medical Education is quite demanding in terms long
duration, lack of time, vastness. Medical students experience various forms of stress due to financial, and social
pressures which could affect their levels of self-esteem.
Objectives: 1. To assess the level self-esteem among medical students of a private medical college in South India
using Rosenberg Self-esteem scale. 2. To find out the factors associated with the levels of self-esteem among
medical students of a private medical college in South India.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. UG and PG students of the college were
participants. The pre structured questionnaire was used to collect the socio demographic details and Rosenberg
Self-esteem scale (RSES) was used to assess the self-esteem among the medical graduate and post graduate
students. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis has been carried out in the present study. Results were
presented as percentages for categorical data. Significance is assessed at 5% level of significance. Chi-square test
has been used to find the significance of study.
Results: In the study 72 (20.86%) had low self-esteem, 258(74.78%) scored between (16-25) that shows normal
self-esteem and only 16 (4.63%) scored >25 indicating high self-esteem.
Conclusion: This study found that the majority of medical students had normal self-esteem The factors such as
sex of the student, age, marital status, type of course, socio economic status class were found to be significantly
associated with the levels of self-esteem. Other factors like place of residence, religion was found to be insignificant