Abstract:

Self-esteem plays an important role on personal characteristics of individuals. It is considered that the studies intended for the determination of self-esteem levels of 8th grade students who are studying at secondary schools and in a transitional period between childhood and adulthood are insufficient. For this reason, this study was conducted in order to determine self-esteem levels of 8th grade students at secondary schools. Descriptive method was used in the study. The study was conducted with the participation of totally 150 students studying at the 8th grade in a secondary school located in Sivas during 2015-2016 academic year. “Personal Information Form” and “Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale” were used as a data collection tool. For the analysis of such data, on the other hand, t-test and ANOVA were used. As a result of the study, it is concluded that 8th grade students generally have a high self-esteem level; there is no statistically significant difference between self-esteem levels by gender and number of siblings; there is a statistically significant difference (p<0,05) between self-esteem levels of the students studying at state schools and private schools and this difference is indeed to the advantage of 8th grade students studying at private schools. 

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