EXPLORING THE PERCEPTION OF SELF ESTEEM AMONG HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES

The main purpose of this study was to explore the self esteem among high school athletes with regard to their participation in recreational and leisure activities and also to see the differences of self esteem level between both sexes (male and female). To achieve the study purpose, 250 (124 male and 126 female) adolescent athletes at the high school level were invited to participate in this survey. Their ages were ranged from 12 to 17 years. They were invited on the basis of their active participation in games and sports and also those who used to participate in various tournaments conducted by the District Sports Office, under the authority of Directorate of Sports, Assam. They were asked to indicate their perception of self esteem on their games and sports participation. The Principal Component analysis extraction and Varimax Rotation methods were adopted for analysis the 10 items in this survey. Three items showed low factor loading (< .50) after EFA. Description of the three items is “I feel that I have a number of good qualities”; “I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others”, and “On the whole, I am satisfied with myself ”. Level of self esteem between male and female was found significantly different as it was hypothesized earlier. The results were further enhanced with Confirmatory factor analysis where the result of the Confirmatory factor analysis Model Fit Summary indicated: χ2 = 36.928 with df = 32 to be significant as CFI = .978, RMSEA = .025, GFI = .972, AGFI = .952, PGFI = .566, PCLOSE = .905.