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The impact of gender on mindfulness and self-esteem among university students

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abstract

Studies on positive psychology have demonstrated the significance of investigation into the main causes that lead to the well-being of the person and one such factor is mindfulness. The main focus of this research was to evaluate the impact of gender on mindfulness and self-esteem among university students. The research adopted a casual research design as it sought to explain the pattern in the stages of self-esteem between male and female students. A sample was drawn from the population of students under the department of psychology. A stratified sampling technique was used to collect data and the data was analyzed using inferential statistics to derive relationships. The result of the studies shows that the R square adjusted for mindfulness was 25.8% which meant that mindfulness variables and the gender and level of education clarified 25.8% of the level of variation in the general self-esteem. In addition to this gender was also a major contributing factor towards establishing self-esteem and males had clear definitions of their self-concept as compared to their female counterparts.

Note; change Michigan University to whatever the school the student is in, and also change where highlighted

 

 

Studies on positive psychology have demonstrated the significance of an investigation into main factors that usually lead to the well-being of the person and one such factor is mindfulness. Brown and Ryan (2003) defined mindfulness as increased sensitivity and commitment to current activity or real situation. Mindfulness can promote tolerance as a higher degree of mindfulness in individuals allows them able to respond to challenging circumstances without acting in a non-adaptive and automatic way (Pepping et al. 2013). Mindful people are better equipped to deal with stressful feelings and perceptions without feeling overwhelmed because they prefer to be more imaginative and interested in different areas of experience (Shapiro et al., 2007). Greater mindfulness levels may reduce the level of perceived stress due to perceptual negative assessments of difficult and threatening activities and situations (Weinstein et al., 2009).

Self-esteem can be defined as the assessment of a person’s self-worth which varies from one individual to another.  It is considered as a relatively stable personality trait (Waterman, 1992). Self-esteem is an important building block that is linked to several constructive psychological effects, including general personal improvement, positive feelings, social support, and pro-social actions that life satisfaction. Mindfulness can enhance self-esteem by increasing awareness and detailing experiences. Improved self-esteem makes people less inclined to have intrusive feelings or pessimistic attitudes and allows people to concentrate on existing experiences (Pepping et al., 2013).

Randal, Pratt, and Bucci (2015) sought to synthesize and critically evaluate studies between the association of mindfulness and self-esteem of an individual. An efficient study was carried out using online repositories, as a result, 32 studies met the inclusion criterion. 15 of the experiments studied the relationship between self-esteem and mindfulness. 17 of the studies examined developments in self-esteem following MBI. Correlational research experiments have found important a relationship between self-esteem & mindfulness, although the mainstream of MBI findings have caused a substantial improvement in self-esteem. Quality-assessed experiments have found that these results can be viewed with caution due to methodological shortcomings such as in the number of studies sampled. In addition to this, the methodology of research used was a theoretical one whereas the current study will utilize qualitative data obtained from student responses.

Jang and Jeon (2015) explored the association concerning an individual’s well-being and their self-esteem based on the experience of students studying in the university and offered basic evidence for the creation of interventions to enhance mental health through recognizing and making use of knowledge by tests. As a survey sample, data were collected from 458 undergraduate students at the institution. The results of this research show that there was a substantial positive association between mindfulness, the self-esteem of an individual, and their overall mental health. That is the effective mindfulness played out, improved mental wellbeing retained demonstrating a solid degree of connection. Nonetheless, the more mindfulness turned out, the higher self-esteem achieved, which demonstrated a low degree of correlation. The higher self-esteem was preserved, the improved mental wellbeing, which indicated a poor degree of self-esteem.

Bajaj, Gupta, and Sengupta (2019) established a meditation ideal where mindfulness was implicitly connected to satisfaction by mental wellbeing as well as self-esteem. This study involved around three hundred and two undergraduate students from an Indian university. The tool used to collect data was self-reported questionnaires on attention, social health, self-esteem, and satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis research has demonstrated that mindfulness was associated with pleasure through the regulation of a person’s self-esteem and their overall mental health. The association between happiness and mindfulness has been fully mediated by emotional stability and self-esteem. Cognitive health partly regulated the association between self-esteem and mindfulness.

Investigating the influence of gender on mindfulness and self-esteem among university students was the main purpose of this research. Based on the empirical evidence, a correlation was found to exist between self-esteem and mindfulness. However, the influence of gender as a factor affecting both levels of self-awareness and self-concept has not been featured in any of the known previous studies in the developed world. Studies by Karimi and Arasa (2017) in Kenya revealed that male participants had a high level of self-esteem as compared to the female participants. This is expected to hold in this study because most females tend to associate their happiness and life satisfaction by interacting with people, mostly family and friends as opposed to interacting with themselves. In retrospect, most males obtain their happiness and their satisfaction from life comes as a result of their achievement according to Zhang (2016). This, therefore, makes males more self-aware hence have better self-esteem as their happiness depends on their actions as opposed to their female counterparts who depend on other people to feel satisfied with their lives.

The research was done at a private institution named the State University of Michigan. The population of this study will be students in the department of psychology. The researcher will only consider this group as the target population for they are accessible easily and are likely to provide insight into the issue at hand.  The study will adopt a causal research design as an analysis of mindful behavioral factors was explored with its impact on self-esteem. The department of psychology has a student population of roughly 800 students spread across the various years of study at the department. These will form the target population. The researcher adopted a stratified sampling technique as the aim was to reach the entire campus. The sample was divided into groups based on their course majors and a sample drawn from each stratum. The sample for the current study was drawn to yield respondents from both genders and diversity of academic majors. The researcher aimed to reach all the majors in the college of psychology and abnormal science. Data will be collected from 70 of these students.

The current study used quantitative methods of analysis in a significant part in assessing self-esteem by using Rosenberg self-esteem scale that measures self-esteem.  His scale has four scales that range from four agreeing to one being disagreed which relates to self-esteem and acceptance. Questions on whether the students were satisfied with themselves, felt they had good qualities, whether they are proud of who they are, etc., were asked. To assess the mindfulness the mindful attention awareness scale was used.  Questions on whether the respondents were emotionally conscious and how focused they were asked. The statements are on a Likert scale of 1 to 10. The reliability and validity of previously published research have already been established and they were affordable since it was already readymade.

The process of data collection involved several steps. First, approval to conduct the research was obtained from the institution. Secondly, the online questionnaire was sent to the students through the emails provided by the school, and responses were received in the google form platform for further analysis. The respondents completed an online questionnaire that had about 40 questions designated to assess the esteem and mindfulness levels.  A cash reward of 5 dollars was donated to the respondent’s favorite charity in their name to boost response and encourage participation. This ensured a high response rate of the survey carried out.

The results were analyzed by Statistical package for social science version 24. Correlation coefficients and regression equations were modeled to analyze the relationship between sex, self-esteem, and mindfulness. The next hypothesis was tested at 5% significant level. The hypothesis tested with the aid of inferential statistics are laid out below;

Null hypothesis; No statistically significant association is there between an individual’s self-esteem and their gender.

Alternative hypothesis; Significant association exists between an individual’s self-esteem and their gender.

The tests of difference of averages were done for 25 statements in the combined questionnaire. The hypothesis was tested using t distribution test at a 5 % level of significance for a two-tailed test.  The computed t statistic was greater than the critical value from the F distribution table leading to rejection of the null hypothesis.  This in effect meant that there was a statistically significant relationship between gender and self-esteem as earlier predicted. The adjusted R square for mindfulness was 25.8% implying that mindfulness variables plus gender and level of education explained 25.8% of the level of variation in overall self-esteem. Gender was a major contributing factor towards establishing self-esteem and males had clear definitions of their self-concept as compared to their female counterparts.  This is because in general, the results of gender differences show a higher average male in positive things and a higher average female in negative items.

The study findings are consistent with the studies done by Randal, Pratt, and Bucci (2015) sought to synthesize and critically evaluate studies between self-esteem and mindfulness of the association a systematic study was carried out using online repositories and established that significant positive relationship of self-esteem and mindfulness. The studies on the relationship between sex and self-esteem often indicate that men have a stronger understanding of themselves than women. This is contrary to Rubie-Davies’ (2013) study carried out among graduates that did not agree with the findings of other studies suggesting that gender affected the self-esteem.

Most of the proposed ways to increase self-conceptions were similar among genders in this study. Socialization with peers or mentors, the understanding of abilities, shortcomings, self-reception, and reading were the typical guidelines among the genders. Specific studies have suggestions like nurturing or positive sources like teachers or lecturers that could improve self-conception (Strenke, 2010).

The self-conception of undergraduate students has been documented as well as ways to develop it. The research did establish an important association statistically between sex and different aspects of self-esteem. However, male students were found to have high self-esteem generally attributed to themselves than women students. The present research indicates that self-concept can be strengthened across the university to increase the positive conception of oneself among students.

The findings of this research provide useful advice for behavioral enhancement protection by increased tolerance and at the same time eliminate tension. Knowledge cultivation will benefit persons understanding their sense of worth, hence they will be able to conduct themselves well and to tackle stress, hence improve their resilience. The current iteration thus can help increase mental health, overall Resilience levels, and stress reduction simultaneously. The findings of this research can aid in the creation of therapies to address the problem of stress and resilience. Systems to raise activity awareness and self-esteem can improve resilience and minimize stress.

This study recommends that future researchers employ a longitudinal research design to study mindfulness gender and self-esteem relationship. Similar research should also be done on the same subject matter but use a different set of sample respondents. Future studies can be done on young professionals or on particular professions such as accountants, attorneys, etc. to gain substantial knowledge within the area of self-esteem and mindfulness as the value of these concepts cannot be overemphasized.

There could be three drawbacks to the analysis. First of all, this study has used a specifically purposeful sampling procedure which is not likely to be used. Therefore, while the findings are descriptive of students pursuing personality psychology or abnormal personality that are not universal to all students. Rosenberg self-esteem scale and mindful attention scale have been used to compile data In the United States in the past, the research was first conceived and has since been extended to continents of Europe and Asia. Critics can also contend that the instrument may not be fully relevant at this point. Thirdly, opponents may argue that the sample size is too small for the whole Michigan state university student body to generalize. But as earlier declared, the research wasn’t meant to represent the entire Michigan state scholar populace but of psychology or the abnormal psychology scholars, as earlier explained.

It is also vital for future researchers to practice cross-cultural implementation of self-esteem and mindfulness. Studies using different variables such as analogous samples as an independent concept, gender, age, or study level the quality and utility of the instrument Identify self-esteem gaps in multiple sociocultural field’s context meanings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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