Abstract

Education is the ladder that can take a man to the pinnacle of success. It is not limited only to the academic achievement but ensures holistic development of an individual. The kind of ambiance an educational institution provides has a direct impact over the personality dynamics of it’s students and the quality of education imparted to them. This empirical study aims to investigate the difference in self-esteem, body shape concern and social interaction anxiety among girls who have always (school and college both) studied in single-sex institutions and girls who have always studied in co-educational institutions. The study was conducted on a purposive sample of 108 female students from various colleges in Chandigarh. A significant difference was achieved on the two variables, self-esteem and body shape concern. It was found out that the self-esteem of girls from single-sex institutions was higher than those studying in co-educational institutions, whereas, the girls of the co-educational institutions were more concerned about their body image in comparison to their counterpart. No significant difference was observed on the social interaction anxiety between the two sample groups. Correlations between the three psychological variables was also calculated.A non-significant negative correlation was found between self-esteem and body shape concern among girls of single-sex institutions whereas in girls of co-educational institutions, the negative correlation was significant. There was a significant negative correlation between self esteem and social interaction anxiety in both, single sex and co-educational institutions. Lastly, A significant positive correlation was achieved between body shape concern and social interaction anxiety in girls of single sex institution whereas a non-significant positive relationship was found in girls of co-educational institutions.