Affiliation Motivation and Self-Esteem among the Secondary Level Students

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Introduction

Self-esteem is an inherent part of the self-perception, which reveals a person's ideas and beliefs about himself about what he is, what qualities he or she possesses. Our motivation, emotions, decision-making, relationships, general well-being and quality of life can all be affected by self-esteem. Self-esteem has a significant destined impact on real-world life experiences and it is not mere the byproduct of success and failure in life domains (Orth et al.; 2012) [14]. Higher levels of self- esteem associates with higher levels of need for inclusion in the group (Stoil Mavrodiev& Teodor Gergov; 2021) [11]. Another study revealed that self-esteem level correlates positively with the affiliation and high scores on the affiliation associates with greater instability in self-esteem (Kozlowska; 2020). Maintaining an ideal balance is easier when we can have a better grasp of an individual level of self-esteem. Healthy self-esteem has four main elements: solid grasp of one's abilities, healthy relationship with oneself, reasonable and appropriate goals, awareness about requirements and capacities of oneself. Self-esteem declines during childhood and rises during adolescence and adulthood (Robins et al.; 2002). Furthermore, among the people of all age groups, women have lower levels of self-esteem as compared to men (McMullin et al.; 2004). But, a fear of rejection increases affiliation motivation and, poor socializing environment reduces self- esteem among children (Youngleson, 1973) [17]. Self-esteem and school performance attributes primarily to school performance and there is a bidirectional causal relationship between self-esteem and depression (Rosenberg et al.; 1989). Yet another study revealed those children’s self-evaluations is associated to the perceptions of parental behavior. Adolescents suffering from loneliness are high on fear of negative assessment and low on self-esteem (Geukens et al.; 2020). Increase in use of social media causes decrease in the self-esteem of individuals (Jan et al.; 2017).Instability in self-esteem is associated with depression and vulnerability to depression (Franck et al.; 2007). Children engaged in bullying as victims, bullies, or both have significantly low self-esteem than those who are not a bully or bullied (Moore et al.; 2001).

Many people desire for a sense of belongingness. Affiliation motivation is an individual’s drive establishes interpersonal bonds, to prefer certainty, to work well with others, to support group choices, to recognize the strengths of team members etc. According to the theory of affiliation motivation, a person wishes to be part of a group or association. Psychologist David McClelland, in his “Three Needs Theory", postulated that people have three fundamental drives: affiliation, success and power. Peoples’ sense for affiliation motivation changes in a variety of circumstances. At moments, people prefer to be alone or with others. People with motives of higher implicit and explicit affiliation and with abundant amount of affiliation behavior have low negative affectivity and the high satisfaction in life in comparison to one who are lacking in one of the conditions (Schuler, et. al.; 2008). Men are consistently lower in affiliation motivation and affiliation values than women (Mazur, 1989) [12]. While, highly stressed women having high affiliation and low activity inhibition are more likely to inflict abuse (Mason et al.; 1987).

Both during maintained and at initial contact of affiliation, high self- esteem observers tend to affiliate with persons lower on self- esteem, and low self- esteem observers tends to affiliate with people higher on self- esteem (Astra & Singg; 2010). High level of social avoidance and distress exhibits lower levels of self- confidence and lower need for affiliation, while they exhibit high level of need for deference by others (Geist et al.; 1983) [6]. The dispositional levels of affect intensity correlates positively with positive stimulation, emotional hold up, attention and social comparison, where the greatest correlation is among affect intensity and positive stimulation by others (Blankstein; 1989).

Objectives of the study

1. To find out the level of Affiliation motivation among secondary level students.

2. To havean idea about the level of self-esteem among secondary level students.

3. To find out the differences in affiliation motivation between students from urban school and students from rural school.

4. To find out the differences in affiliation motivation 5. To find out the differences in self-esteem between students from urban school and students from rural school.

6. To find out differences in self-esteem between male and female students.

7. To find out whether there exists any relationship between affiliation motivation and self-esteem of secondary level students.

Null Hypotheses of the study H01: The difference in affiliation motivation between students from urban school and students from rural school is not significant.

H02: No significant difference is there in affiliation motivation between male and female students. H03: There is no significant difference in self-esteem between students from urban school and students from rural school. H04: Difference existed between self-esteem of male and female students are not significant.

H05: Affiliation motivation of secondary level students does not have significant relationship with their self- esteem.

Materials and Methods

Design of the Study To conduct the research the investigators had used Descriptive method.

Participants of The Study and Sampling Technique Sample The total sample for the present study was 400 students. For the present study, the investigators included class IX and X students from five schools of Kamrup district, namely-

5. Sarawati Shiksha Niketan School, Mirza

Demographic Data of the sample Table 1: Showing demographic data for the sample of the study Name of school Location No. of Students Gender Male Female St. Claret School, Borjhar Urban 47 35 Green Valley Public School, Khanamukh 29 24 GU Model High School, English Section, Jalukbari 35 30 Arunodaya English Medium High School, Mirza Rural 52 38 Sarawati Shiksha Niketan School, Mirza 63 47 Sub-Total 226 174

Sampling Technique

The samples for the present study were selected using the Stratified random sampling technique.

Tools for Data Collection and Technique Tools The investigators used a self-constructed questionnaire to study affiliation motivation and self- esteem among secondary school students. The questionnaire consisted of 20 items for each of the two variables. For validity of the questionnaire content validity has been ascertained. Content validity has been checked by consulting the questionnaire to three subject experts before the data collection.

Scoring of the tools For each item, rating scale of five-point such as- Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree is being followed. For scoring of the positive and negative responses the following scores were given accordingly:

Table 2: Showing scoring of the tools Type Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Positive 5 4 3 2 1 Negative 1 2 3 4 5 Norms for scoring Table 3: Showing norms for scoring of data Category Score Low 40 and below Average 41 to 80 High 81 and above Technique of Data Collection For the purpose of collecting data, the investigators visited the schools after consultations with the principals of the respective schools. The investigators personally distributed the questionnaire to the students of class IX and X and collected it back after the students had responded by filling up the questionnaires.

Procedure for Analysis and Interpretation of Data The students’ responses have been analyzed by using SPSS 27 version, after the collection of the data. The pre-determined norms for level of affiliation motivation and self-esteem were considered to find out the frequencies and percentages of different levels of Affiliation Motivation as well as Self-esteem among the students. To compare the differences in levels according to their location of school and gender, t-test has been used. Also, to examine the correlation between Affiliation Motivation and Self-esteem among students, Pearson correlation has been calculated.

Ethical Consideration

For ethical consideration, the investigators took permission from the principals during the time of data collection. The data were collected only from those who had voluntary participated after taking their consent. Participants were ensured that their data and information will be kept confidential and hence, their data and information were kept secret for confidentiality and has been used for this piece of research work only.

Objective 1: To Find Out the Level of Affiliation Motivation Among Secondary Level Students Table 4: Showing the Level of Affiliation Motivation Among Secondary Level Students Category No. of Respondents Percentage High 115 28.7% Average 182 45.5% Low 103 25.8% Total 400 100% Fig 1: Showing levels of affiliation motivation among students Interpretation: To find out the level of affiliation motivation among the students, scores of individual students were calculated and then frequencies on each of the levels were counted. The frequencies and percentage falling on each level of the category is shown in Table- 4 and Figure- 1. It is shown that 182 students which represents 45.5% of the sample falls under average level of affiliation motivation, 115 students i.e., 28.7% of the students falls under high level and 103 i.e., 25.85 of the sample falls under low level of affiliation motivation.

Objective 2: To Have an Idea About the Level of Self-Esteem Among Secondary Level Students Table 5: Showing level of self-esteem among secondary level students Category No. of Respondents Percentage High 185 46.3% Average 129 32.3% Low 86 21.5% Total 400 100% Fig 2: Showing levels of self-esteem among students Interpretation: Objective- 2 is aimed to study about the levels of self-esteem among the students. For this objective also the investigator calculated the scores of individual students and those scores gave an overview on the number of students falling under each category.

Table- 5 and Figure- 2 have shown that 185 respondents, representing 46.3% of the sample students falls under high level of self- esteem, 129 samples which is 32.35% of the students falls under average level and only 86 students i.e., 21.5% of the students falls under low level of self-esteem.

Objective-3: To Find Out the Differences in Affiliation Motivation Between Students from Urban School and Students from Rural School H01: The Difference in Affiliation Motivation Between Students from Urban School and Students from Rural School Is Not Significant Table 6: Showing comparison of affiliation motivation between students from urban school and students from rural school. Location N Mean SD df t-value Remarks Urban 200 63.49 21.818 398 4.056 Significant Rural 200 54.46 22.696 Interpretation: This objective attempted to find out the significant difference in affiliation motivation between students of urban school and rural school. In order to test the null hypothesis (H01), t-test was calculated on levels of affiliation motivation of students from two locations-namely- urban and rural. The result of the t-test is shown in Table- 6. It can be seen from the table that the ‘t’ value is 4.056 at df 398 which is significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, null hypothesis can be rejected.

Objective 4: To Find Out the Differences in Affiliation Motivation Between Male and Female Students H02: No Significant Difference Is There in Affiliation Motivation Between Male and Female Students.

Table 7: Showing comparison of affiliation motivation between male and female students. Gender N Mean SD df t-value Remarks Male 226 59.16 23.300 398 .190 Not Significant Female 174 58.72 21.933 Interpretation: The investigator formulated null hypothesis (H02) to test objective-. Table- 7 shows the t-test result for the same. It can be seen in the table- that the ‘t’ value is .190 at df- 398 which is not significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis can be accepted.

Objective 5: To Find Out the Differences in Self-Esteem Between Students from Urban School and Students from Rural School.

H03: There is no significant difference in self-esteem between students from urban school and students from rural school.

Table 8: Showing comparison of self-esteem of students between students from urban school and students from rural school. Location N Mean SD df t-value Remarks Urban 200 64.54 22.853 398 .144 Not Significant Rural 200 64.22 20.741 Interpretation: The result for the t-test to compare the self-esteem of students from urban school and rural school is shown in Table- 8. Table- 8 shows that the t-value is .144 atdf 398, which is not significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, we may accept the null hypothesis (HO3).

Objective 6: To Find Out Differences in Self-Esteem H04: Difference existed between self-esteem of male and female students are not significant.

Table 9: Showing comparison of self-esteem between male and female students Gender N Mean SD df t-value Remarks Male 226 65.83 21.562 398 1.519 Not Significant Female 174 62.49 22.014 Interpretation: The result for the t-test to compare the self-esteem between male and female students shows that the t-value is 1.519 at df 398 and it is not significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, we may accept the null hypothesis (HO4). The result is shown in Table- 9 Objective 7: To Find Out Differences in Self-Esteem H05: Affiliation motivation of secondary level students does not have significant relationship with their self- esteem.

Table 10: Showing relation between affiliation motivation and self-esteem of secondary level student Variable N Pearson (r) Level of significance Affiliation motivation 400 .020 1.96 Self esteem 400 Interpretation: To find out the correlation between affiliation motivation and self- esteem of students, the investigators used Pearson correlation method. The result of the analysis is shown in Table- 10. It shows that the r-value of correlation analysis is found to be .020, which indicates a positive butnegligible correlation and is not significant.

Results and Discussion

Self-esteem is the perception of an individual about their total worth or value. It depicts how confident a person is in their own skills and personality. People’s concern to establish, maintain, or re-establish a favorable affective connection with people or group of people is known as an affiliation motivation. (Heyns, Veroff& Atkinson, 1958). The present study focused on finding out the extent of affiliation motivation and self- esteem among secondary students and the differences existing between affiliation motivation and self- esteem of students on the basis of the location of school and their gender. It is also aimed to investigate whether there may be any relationship between affiliation motivation and self- esteem of students.

According to the present study less than half of the sample students (45.5%) are average in affiliation motivation; whereas very few students fall under the other two categories of affiliation motivation such as- high and low level. It means that students are average in their urge to maintain a cordial relationship and create a bond averagely with other people. According to the study, 46.3% fall under high level of self-esteem, followed by- average level and low level. It indicates that sample students have high perception about their strengths and weaknesses and they understand their worth and value.

While the investigators aimed on finding out the affiliation motivation and self- esteem of students according to the location of school and student’s gender, for the present study, it is found that affiliation motivation differs in students on the basis of the location of school but not on the basis of their gender. Also, self- esteem of students does not differ according to the location of school and their gender. The result of the correlation analysis of affiliation motivation and self- esteem was found to be positive but it is negligible. Increase or decrease in affiliation motivation may increase or decrease the self- esteem of students and vice- versa.

Limitations and Recommendation The present study is limited to only 5 high-schools of Kamrup district of Assam. It is also limited to English medium schools only. It is recommended to perform same type of study at other levels of education such as- higher education students. Researchers may conduct their studies at schools of other mediums too. It can also be recommended to conduct study by including more schools as only 5 schools are included for the present study.

Conclusions

Affiliation motivation and Self-esteem are two very strong human attribute. Almost every person displays these attributes in one way or the other sometimes, though not every time. Having high affiliation motivation may make people dependent on others always and having low self-esteem may lose person’s unique identity as they will always need peoples’ approval for everything they do or like to do. An excessively elevated or low self-esteem can be harmful.The present study showed that affiliation motivation differs in students on the basis of the location of school but not on the basis of their gender. Also, self- esteem of students does not differ according to the location of school and their gender. And, increase or decrease in affiliation motivation may increase or decrease the self- esteem of students and vice- versa.

Acknowledgements

The researcher appreciates all the heads of the sample schools, teachers and students for their valuable time and cooperation.

Sponsorship The research work is not sponsored by any agency, institution or individual.

Author contributions Dr. Sima Kalita contributed to the conception and design of the study. Ms. Mallika Gayary and Ms. Flurina Boruah conducted data collection and analysis. Also, Ms. Mallika Gayary has done the interpretation of results. The first author has approved the final version of the work, who also contributed significantly to its preparation and critical revision.

Conflict of Interest

The present work is free from conflict of Interest.

Ethics Approval Not applicable