Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International

33(40A): 76-81, 2021; Article [Link].71234

ISSN: 2456-9119
(Past name: British Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, Past ISSN: 2231-2919,
NLM ID: 101631759)

Self Awareness as a Predictor of Adolescent

Behavior among Nursing Students: A School Based
Study
Vaishali D. Tendolkar1*, Shaini Suraj2, Pravin Pande3, Komal Meshram4
and Parikshit Muley5
1
Department of Mental Health, Datta Meghe College of Nursing, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
2
Department of Psychological, Datta Meghe College of Nursing, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
3
Department of Surgery, Datta Meghe College of Nursing, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
4
Department of Physiology, Datta Meghe Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
5
Department of Physiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute Medical
Sciences, Sawangi, Maharashtra, India.

Authors’ contributions

This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. All authors read and approved the final
manuscript.

Article Information

DOI: 10.9734/JPRI/2021/v33i40A32223
Editor(s):
(1) Dr. Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan Hassanien, Zagazig University, Egypt.
Reviewers:
(1) Adhy Firdaus, Ganesha Jakarta College of Economics, Indonesia.
(2) Anne Abaho, Nkumba University, Uganda.
(3) Sanjay Pande, Visvesvaraya Technological University, India.
Complete Peer review History: [Link]

Received 30 May 2021

Original Research Article Accepted 04 August 2021
Published 05 August 2021

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is “a period of great strain and stress, storm and strife’. Every individual wants to live
a healthy and peaceful life. Each one must be aware of one’s strength, weakness, feelings,
perceptions, thoughts, behaviours, initiation, motivations and actions particularly at specific life
events. Self-awareness directs to perform any work in effective manner. Adolescents are expected
to have highest level of self-awareness as it is the most important turning point in one’s life
Objectives: 1) To assess the level of self-awareness among the adolescents. 2) To evaluate the
social behaviour of the adolescents. 3) To find out the relationship between self-awareness on the
social behaviour of the adolescents.
Research Design: Correlation study.
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 Tendolkar et al.; JPRI, 33(40A): 76-81, 2021; Article [Link].71234

Population: Adolescents in the age group of 13-17 years both males and females Sample Size:
909.
MaterialS: Modified self-awareness Scale and Researcher developed Adolescent social behavior
scale.
Results: Self-awareness has positive non-significant (r=0.004, p=0.91) relationship with the social
behavior among adolescents.
Conclusion: The study findings reveal that as the self awareness improves there are chances of
improving the social behavior of adolescents. There are many factors contributing to social
behavior such as education, socio-economic status, parental education and their occupation,
friends and facilities provided for growth, motivation of adolescents and the surrounding
environment and most importantly the provisions for facilitating the interactions between these
factors.

Keywords: Self-awareness; predictor; social behavior; adolescents.

1. INTRODUCTION They are continuously modified and re-created.

Social behaviour is based on various feedbacks
Adolescence is a period of bio-psycho-social received by the individual in different situations.
transition from childhood to adulthood. There is Amazing changes are noticed in the self-concept
significant growth and developments occurring in with the changes in the situational and
internal body organs and external body motivational aspects of social interaction [4]. The
appearance and social responsible behavior. self concept ranges between positive and
Adolescents face problems of self-identity, negative poles.
academic and peer pressures. The three main
identity related problems faced by the adolescent Many psychologists and social scientists believe
are the changed body image, the social image, that ‘self’ is embedded in multiple systems such
particularly with respect to occupation and the as family, neighbours, school, college, work
sex role. Adolescence is a time of fantasy and place, culture, economic status, social status,
the threshold to adulthood [1,2]. historical background, etc. Self-awareness also
depends on social context that contributes to the
Every individual wants to live a healthy and growth and development of one’s abilities and
peaceful life. Each one must be are of his/her self-worth as a person [5].
strength, weakness, feelings, perceptions,
thoughts, behaviours, initiation, motivations and Self-Identity includes self-awareness and keeps
actions every time. Self-awareness helps to altering in situational contexts.5,6 Family identity
perform any work in effective manner including is largely developed in children, youth and adults.
daily activities. Adolescent must have highest The cultural and professional identity begins to
level of self-awareness because a human develop at adolescence. Professional identity
productivity life starts from pre-adolescent period development is the hallmark of modern society
[2,3]. [6].

An individual looks at self from two dimensions, Literature reports that adolescents with pleasant
one is inner self as s(he) perceives, appearance do not know about it and develop
himself/herself as subject. This is “I” perception. low self-esteem. Adolescents form an identity
The other outward self is from his/her through continuous feedback and social
environmental/ circumstance dimension as s(he) comparison with other members of society,
believes others are looking at him(her). This is especially members of the peer group [7].
“ME” perception [3]. Every person should expand
their “I” and “Me” perception as much as Self-awareness is being aware of one’s own
possible. authentic ‘self’. It is the ability to self-examine,
ability to recognize oneself as an individual
Social relationships are closely related to self separate from the environment and other
concept. Social relationships are relative in individuals. Daniel Goleman (1995) defines self-
nature and keep changing with situations, awareness as knowledge of one’s strengths,
persons and mostly guided by one’s ability to weakness, drives, values and impact on others.
acknowledge and use strengths in times of need. The sociological perspectives of self-awareness

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indicates to being aware of societal standards schools. The participants were contacted in their
and norms [7]. school setting. They were explained about the
study purpose. Their doubts were clarified and
Neissor (1997) mentioned five abilities work they were assured about the confidentiality of the
together for creating higher degree of self- [Link] was collected from them by
awareness namely ecological self, interpersonal administering the materials for self-reports. It
self, extended self-awareness, private self, took on an average 20 minutes for the
conceptual self-knowledge and self-concept participants to fill the information.
[8].
2.3 Data Analysis
Self awareness contributes to the personality and
the social outcome of the person. Hence the The collected data was analyzed on the basis of
investigators proposed to study the relationship objectives of the study. Descriptive statistics of
between self-awareness and social behaviour of frequency, percentage, mean and standard
the adolescents studying in schools. deviation were used. Inferential statistics in terms
of correlation coefficient was estimated.
1.1 Objectives of the Study
3. OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS
 To assess the level of self awareness
among the adolescents studying schools of The above table shows distribution of
Vidarbha region. participants according to their demographic
 To evaluate the social behaviour of the information. It shows that 55.67% adolescents
adolescents. were females and 44.33% were males. 75.36%
 To find out the relationship between self- adolescents belonged to age group of 13- 15
awareness and social behaviour of years, 24.64% were from age group of16-17
th
adolescents. years. 34.54% were studying in 9 Std., 24.20%
were in 8 Std, 21.23 % were in 7th Std., and
th
th
1.2 Hypothesis 20.02% were in 11 Std. Majority of them
77.89% were Hindu (Table 1).
H1: Self-awareness may predict the social
behavior of the adolescents. Level of Self Awareness of 519 (57.10%) of
study participants was found High, 196 (21.56%)
2. METHODS of study participants had Average self-
awareness, 159(17.49%) had Very High
Setting of the Study: Government and Private level, while 35(3.85%) of study participants had
Schools of Hingna taluka of Nagpur. Low levels of self-awareness. The mean
score for self-awareness was 130.85+12.03
Research Design: Correlation study. (Table 2).

Population: Adolescents in the age group of 13 The perception of Social Behaviour of

to 17 years. 429(47.19%) participants was good.
360(39.60%) had very good perception of social
Sample Size: 909. behaviour, 117(12.87%) had satisfactory
perception and 3(0.33%) of study participants
Sampling Technique: Convenient sampling. had poor perception of social behavior. The
mean score for perception of acceptable social
2.1 Sampling Criteria behavior is 38.18 with standard deviation of 9.26
(Table 3).
1. Adolescents in the age group of 13 to 17
years The table shows that the relationship between
2. Both gender self-awareness and social behavior is statistically
very weak positive and non-significant at 5%
level of significance. This indicates that self-
2.2 Method of Data Collection
awareness can be considered as only one of the
predictors of social behavior of adolescents
Permission to collect information from students
(Table 4).
was taken from the principals of respective

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Table 1. Distribution of participants according to demographic characteristics

Demographic characteristics Categories Freq. Percentage

Gender a) Male 403 44.33
b) Female 506 55.67
Age in years a) 13- 15 685 75.36
b) 16-17 224 24.64
th
Class of study a) 7 std 193 21.23
th
b) 8 std 220 24.20
c) 9th std 314 34.54
th
d) 10 std 000 0.00
e) 11th std 182 20.02
Religion a) Hindu 708 77.89
b) Muslim 017 1.87
c) Christian 000 0.00
d) Jain 001 0.11
e) Others 183 20.13

Table 2. Level of self awareness among the adolescents

Level of self awareness Score range % Range Overall

Freq. %
Low 0 - 55 0 - 25 35 3.85
Average 56 - 110 26 - 50 196 21.56
High 111 - 165 51 - 75 519 57.10
Very high 166 - 220 76 - 100 159 17.49
Total 909 100.00
Mean±SD 130.85 +12.03
Maximum 17
Minimum 205

Table 3. Social behavior of adolescents

Level of social behaviour Score range % Range Overall

Freq. %
Poor 94 - 124 76 - 100 3 0.33
Satisfactory 63 - 93 51 - 75 117 12.87
Good 32 - 62 26 - 50 429 47.19
Very Good 0 - 31 0 - 25 360 39.60
Total 909 100.00
Mean±SD 38.18+9.26
Maximum 102
Minimum 21

Table 4. Relationship between self-awareness and social behavior

Variables under study Mean SD r p

Self-Awareness 130.85 12.03 0.004 0.912
Social Behaviour 38.18 9.26 NS, P> 0.05

4. DISCUSSION participants were found to have High self-

awareness, and 159(17.49%) had Very High
The study aimed at identifying the relationship level of self-awareness. The mean score for self-
between self-awareness and social behavior awareness was 130.85+12.03. The perception of
among the adolescents studying in schools. The Social Behaviour of 429(47.19%) participants
findings reveal that 519 (57.10%) of study was good. 360(39.60%) had very good

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perception of social behaviour, The mean score periodical students’ psychological assessment on
for perception of acceptable social behavior is their self-awareness, to identify students with low
38.18 with standard deviation of 9.26. The level awareness and design interventions to
relationship between self-awareness and social improve self-awareness among students [12-16].
behavior is statistically very weak positive and
non-significant at 5% level of significance. This 5. CONCLUSION
indicates that self-awareness is only one of the
predictors of social behavior of adolescents. This The study findings reveal that as the self-
also means that as the self-awareness increases awareness improves there are more chances of
it will result into more positive social beahviour. improving the social behavior of adolescents.
The more the self-awareness the more positive is There are many factors contributing to social
the social behavior of the adolescents. behavior such as education, socio-economic
status, parental education and their occupation,
In the literature there was no study found friends and facilities provided for growth,
wherein relationship between self-awareness motivation of adolescents and the surrounding
and social beahviour of adolescents was studied. environment and most importantly the provisions
However, findings of this study are in for facilitating the interactions between these
concurrence with the following studies- factors. Interventions at school level designed
and developed through counseling cells to
Fung, Camille in his study found that self- facilitate improvement of self-awareness of
awareness was positively and significantly adolescents would be required to improve the
correlated with self-acceptance (r =0.42, p = social behaviours of adolescents.
0.00) and quality relationships (r = 0.28, p =
0.05). He further reported that Self-acceptance CONSENT
and quality relationships were positively
correlated (r = 0.24) but the relationship was not A written informed consent was taken from each
statistically significant. He stated the possibility of participant before recruiting them conveniently.
a third variable responsible for influencing these
variables and directing their relationship [9]. ETHICAL APPROVAL
Antonia Kreibich, Marie Hennecke, Veronika As per international standard or university
Brandstätter, measured and manipulated self– standard written ethical approval has been
awareness in two correlational and two collected and preserved by the author(s).
experimental studies. They requested their
participants to list down obstacles in meeting COMPETING INTERESTS
their goals. All four studies asserted that
individuals with higher levels of dispositional and Authors have declared that no competing
situational self–awareness found more obstacles interests exist.
[10].
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Peer-review history:
The peer review history for this paper can be accessed here:
[Link]

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