ABSTRACT
The early intimacy between the mother and the child makes the mother the most significant person in the life of the child. Thus maternal acceptance plays an inestimable role in the process of child’s personality development. This study therefore investigated the influence of maternal acceptance on self-esteem as expressed by secondary school students in Kwara State. Simple sampling technique was adopted for the selection of 450 respondents that participated in the study. The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire tagged “Influence of Maternal Acceptance on Self-Esteem Questionnaire” (IMASAEQ). The instrument consisted of 25 items which elicited information from the randomly selected respondents. Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested and the data collected were analysed using frequency counts, simple percentages, student t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The null hypotheses generated were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The results of the tested hypotheses revealed that they were all accepted; thus age, religion, gender and class level did not influence the expression of the respondents. The results revealed that maternal acceptance influences students’ self-esteem because it makes them feel happy and confident.
Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that school counsellors should organize talks with mothers on the importance of maternal acceptance to school-going adolescents. It was also recommended that various agencies should organize seminars on the need for adequate maternal acceptance. Thus, Government agencies and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should put in place community counselling programme to help sensitise parents on their roles to the children.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Abstract vi
Table of Contents viii
List of Tables xii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 11
Research Questions 15
Research Hypotheses 16
Purpose of the Study 17
Significance of the Study 17
Operational Definition of Terms 20
Scope of the Study 21
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction 22
Concept of Self-Esteem 23
Impacts of Mother in the development of self-esteem of
the child 32
Effects of parents’ absence on the development of
self-Esteem 40
Parents’ Leadership Styles 43
Parental Attitudes towards the child 48
Summary of the Review of Related Literature 59
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction 60
Research Design 60
Sample and Sampling Procedure 61
Instrumentation 63
Psychometric Property of the Instrument 65
Pilot Testing 67
Procedure for Data Administration and Collection 67
Scoring Procedure 68
Method of Data Analysis 69
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
Introduction 70
Demographic Data 70
Hypotheses Testing 77
Summary of Findings 81
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction 82
Discussion 83
Conclusion 92
Counselling Implications 93
Recommendations 95
Suggestions for Further Studies 97
References 99
Appendix 104
