Influence of sex and parents’ parenting styles on religious and moral education students’ self-esteem: A study in Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipality, Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51867/AQSSR.2.4.56Keywords:
Parenting Style, Religious and Moral Education, Self-Esteem, Sex, StudentsAbstract
Self-esteem is one of the psychological constructs that affect students’ learning. Previous studies demonstrate that both personal and family factors influence students' self-esteem. Using the sociometer theory, this study was purposed to examine the effect of Religious and Moral Education (RME) students' sex and their parents' parental styles on their self-esteem. The study employed the cross-sectional survey research design of the quantitative research approach. The population was all 667 third-year RME students in basic schools in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem municipality. Adopting the proportionate simple random sampling, 273 RME students were selected and participated in the study. A questionnaire with a Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of 0.82 was used as the data collection instrument. The solution Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 27 was used to analyze data. Independent sample t-tests and analysis of variance were used to analyze data to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that RME students have a high level of self-esteem. It was revealed that there is a statistically significant difference in RME students’ self-esteem based on their sex. The results show no statistically significant effect of parental styles on the self-esteem of RME students. The findings highlight the enduring influence of gender-related socialization processes within the Ghanaian educational and cultural context. The findings offer vital insights into the complex interplay between family socialization and adolescent psychological development within the Ghanaian context. It was recommended that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Ghana Education Service should develop and implement gender-sensitive (equity) teaching strategies to ensure all students, regardless of sex, feel valued and confident. Furthermore, RME teachers place a greater emphasis on the school environment and peer interactions to nurture student self-esteem. The school heads and heads of departments must encourage RME teachers to engage more actively with students to build a supportive and affirming classroom atmosphere.
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