The co-relation between Big 5 Personality traits and Self-concept with Body image: A study on young adolescents

Abstract

Background: Adolescents are susceptible to numerous psychological stressors that are frequently overlooked or untreated. Self-concept has a major part in determining a person's personality as it indicates how a teenager sees himself or herself in areas where success is valued. Purpose: To assess the Big 5 Personality Traits, Self-Concept with body image among adolescents, to develop, administer and evaluate the effectiveness of Planned Teaching Program (PTP) to enhance the level of Self-Concept, to determine the correlation between Big 5 Personality Traits, Self-Concept with body image and to find out the association between Self-concept of adolescents with the selected demographic variable. Method: A quantitative research approach with one group pre-test and post-test design was used. A total of 120 adolescents in the age group of 13-15 years were selected using the total enumeration sampling technique. Three highly versatile instruments were used to collect the data: NEO-IPIP Scale, Robson Self-concept Questionnaire (RSCQ-30) and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-16). Both descriptive (percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Spearman’s rank and chi-square test) were used for the analysis. Result: The findings revealed that the mean post-test self-concept score (128.9) was higher than their mean pre-test scores (95.85) with a mean difference of 33.05 There was a moderate negative co-relation with rs= -0.35 between the level of self-concept and body image and a very weak negative co-relation with rs= -0.18 between Big 5 Personality trait: extraversion and body image. A significant association was found between the level of self-concept with selected demographic variables. Conclusion: The study concluded that the planned teaching program effectively enhanced adolescents' self-concept. Additional research is necessary to fully understand the elements influencing adolescents' self-concept and the interventions that are required. Index Terms: Adolescents, Self-concept, Big 5 personality traits, and Body image