Effect of Self-Esteem on Safety Awareness among the Youth

Abstract

Communal violence has become a reoccurring event in some parts of the world including Nigeria. There is, therefore, need for continual search of the underlying factors in safety awareness. Therefore, this present study was aimed to investigate gender and self-esteem as a psychological mechanism that could predict safety awareness among the youths. A cross-sectional design was employed and a total of 706 participants aged between 18 to 40 years were drawn from Abakaliki in Ebonyi State and Calabar in Cross River State of Nigeria. Data was collected using a Linkert type, self-report measures of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Safety Awareness Scale (SAS). A two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for the statistical analysis and the result revealed that self-esteem as a psychological mechanism did not predict safety awareness among the respondents whereas gender as a factor predicted safety awareness among the participants. The findings of the study are discussed.