Self-Image and Adolescent Social Engagement
Self-Image and Adolescent Social Engagement
Social Engagement
Anushka Dhamal
Bhavisha Nakashe
October 2024
Acknowledgments:
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Miss. Bhavisha Nakashe, for her
unwavering guidance, support, and mentorship throughout this research project. Her expertise
and encouragement were instrumental in the successful completion of this study. I am also
deeply indebted to Elphinstone University for providing me with the opportunity to conduct
this research. Special thanks to the adolescent participants who generously shared their time
and experiences. Their willingness to participate in this study made it possible. I would also
and insightful discussions. Their support and feedback were invaluable. Finally, I am grateful
to my family and friends for their unwavering belief in me and their constant encouragement.
Abstract
This study explores the connection between self-image and adolescent social engagement.
The terms self-image and self-concept are often used interchangeably. Self-image refers to an
individual's thoughts and feelings about themselves. It is the idea that a person has about
themselves as they interact in various social contexts. Self-esteem, on the other hand, is the
individuals perceive themselves in different areas of their lives, which also impacts their self-
when individuals experience various social, cognitive, and biological changes such as
puberty, educational transitions, increased peer influence, and the pursuit of independence.
This study aims to understand how self-image influences the social engagement of
adolescents in university settings. The study focuses on the influence of body image, peer
positive self-image will be associated with healthier social engagement, while a negative self-
educational environment, as well as family and peer relationships. The questionnaire was
made on Google Forms and further circulated through various social media platforms. The
responses of the participants were collected and data analysis was conducted. The Pearson
correlation was used to calculate the data. Further, the results indicated a positive correlation
between self-image and adolescent social engagement in the university. The calculation of
the p-value resulted in a significant correlation between the two variables. That means
university.
1. Introduction 1-6
3. Methodology 11
6. References
7. Appendix
1
Introduction
Multiple phases of human development occur in every individual's lifespan. Human lifespan
is mainly divided into 9 phases: the prenatal period, infancy, toddlerhood, the preschool
period, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late
adulthood. Every phase has its significance and changes taking place. Similarly, Adolescence
is known to be one of the most crucial phases of human development. There are significant
changes happening during adolescence that the Young adolescents need to face. It is
abstain from stress by dealing with it one at a time. They tend to use various coping
mechanisms to do so. They require to adapt and adjust to the situations and changes they are
facing. They will deal with these problems one by one rather than facing all of them one at a
time. Disturbances mainly occur when they try to adapt to all the changes all at once.[1]
Hence, changes in various factors do influence the adolescent period. These include various
physical, psychological, cognitive, and social changes that influence an adolescent. Changes
like the onset of puberty, seeking more independence, modifications in educational structures,
is the period when there is a transition from the simplicity of childhood to various external
and internal factors influencing an individual. Thus, the individual must adapt the way they
view themselves.
This is where the concept of self-image plays an important role. In this research, we aim to
study the association between self-image and adolescent social engagement in university.
there are two variables whose correlation we’ll be studying. The first variable is Self-image,
and the second variable is Social engagement in University. We will begin by discussing
2
these two concepts in detail.
Self-Image
The term self-image is also known as self-concept they are used interchangeably. Self-image
is the idea that individuals have about themselves in various aspects of life. The various
aspects are an individual as a student, son/daughter, sibling, friend, etc. It consists of the
thoughts and feelings that they have about themselves. Self-image is not completely different
how positively individuals see themselves which further determines their self-esteem. [2] Self-
image mainly develops as well as is greatly influenced by social interactions. Individuals are
a part of different social interactions in their daily lives. These social interactions shape their
self-image. The social domains that individuals are a part of include school, college, family,
office, civilian, peer group, etc. The sub-variables that I will be studying under self-image are
Body Image
Body image is the view that individuals have about the way their external body looks. It is the
perception of their physical appearance. Body image is influenced by factors like body type,
hair density and color, height, weight, skin tone, skin type, etc. Body image is of two types
that is positive body image and negative body image. These two factors greatly influence how
an individual views themselves. Positive body image is the acceptance and appreciation of
one’s physical appearance. Here the individual has a positive approach and protects oneself.
Negative body image on the other hand is the negative evaluation and approach towards
oneself. Here the individual tends to compare and has negative thoughts and feelings.[3]
Vocational and educational goals consist of two important terms vocational goals and
educational goals. Vocational goals are based on an individual’s course that they are pursuing.
These goals are plans that will upskill their course-related knowledge. Educational goals are
what an individual wants to achieve during their college or university period. This mainly
includes knowing which course to pursue, planning about work opportunities any extra skills
Social Engagement
Social engagement is the active involvement in various social domains of life. They include
[4]
active participation and following social roles like student, friend, sibling, etc. Social
engagement occurs in everyone’s life during various periods and in various forms. For eg.
and colleges. This was just about the adolescent period but other than this each stage requires
social engagement. As humans are social animals having social engagement and connecting
to other people does influence their lives. This study mainly focuses the social engagement in
a university setting. Hence, the important factors studied under social engagement here would
be Peer Relationships and Superior Adjustments. Let’s discuss these concepts briefly.
Peer relationships
Peer relationships or friendships are the social interactions and connections that individuals
have with their friends and peers. These peer relationships are formed in colleges, schools,
and neighborhoods as well as on social networking sites. Peer relationships do have a very
crucial role to play during adolescence. These peer relationships influence and shape an
individual’s behavior during their adolescence. These relationships have a healthy as well as
Superior adjustments refer to the tendency to adapt and function efficiently as well as
effectively in various social domains. In a university setting individuals do have to deal with
a variety of situations each requiring an individual to mold and function appropriately. The
superior adjustment in university mainly consists of the application of skills like individuals
having academic confidence, effective time management, and much more. University social
extracurricular activities. This aspect does associate individuals and their overall social
engagement.
Rationale:
The Social mirror aims to examine the relationship between self-image and adolescent social
between the two variables which are self-image and social engagement. As discussed above
the influence of adolescence period in every individual's life is very significant. This is the
period when individuals are dealing with multiple life changes. During adolescence around
the age of 16 till the age of 22 is spent mainly in university education. Individuals tend to
spend the maximum amount of their time in university or college. During this period there are
also major shifts occurring in an individual's life like moving to different cities for education,
settling in those cities, living away from family, and many more. This is the period where we
seek freedom but with it comes the responsibility of making a good educational foundation
that will be a boosting factor in our career. Here individuals tend to prefer staying more with
their peers. Another important point is this is the 21 st century where there is tremendous
exposure to various factors that shape and influence our self-image. Self-image is the idea
that one has about themselves which gets affected by various social and psychological factors
that one has to deal with in their day-to-day life. As adolescents spend most of their time in
universities and around peer groups there might be certain associations of how these factors
can be related and a change in one variable might lead to a change in another variable as well.
Thus, as I have hypothesized in this study, a positive self-image will have a positive
correlation with university social engagement. In simple words, individuals who have
a healthier self-image will tend to have more social engagement or participation in university.
This social engagement mainly includes aspects like peer relationships, participation in extra-
Through this research, I aim to understand how self-image is related to social engagement in
university. As discussed before adolescents spend most of their time around people with
whom they study and hang out, which majorly influences their perception of themselves
association with how they interact, participate, and initiate in different social environments at
university. This topic isn’t being studied in a specific setting yet. There have been studies
where researchers mainly studied the changes that occurred in self-image during early
adolescence [1] as well as body attitudes and their association with self-image [5].
The unique aspect of this study is its conduction in a specific setting, that is the university.
The relationship between self-image and social engagement is a broad and all-inclusive
concept. Hence selection of a specific setting helps in a better understanding of what role that
setting has to play concerning self-image. Here the selection of university as a setting makes
the variable of social engagement very specific and can help in determining a more in-depth
association between the two variables. Studying these two variables will help one understand
to which extent university social engagement and self-image correlate with each other. This
will further help the students to be more aware of monitoring their self-image and have a
better approach towards themselves as well as others. In the case of social engagement, it will
help the teachers or faculty members to find ways of encouraging and making sure that more
students participate and interact with one another by organizing creative events and
extracurricular activities.
Aim:
Literature Review
Studies have shown that there are a variety of transitions experienced by young adolescents.
These transitions occur in various domains of life. Now the question arises if all of the
aspects of self-image are influenced by these changes occurring in different domains and how
adolescents can deal with them. Let us understand more about this through the study
Early Adolescence. This was conducted in the year 1984. It uses a longitudinal cohort
sequential design. The data was collected from students both girls and boys starting from
sixth grade to eighth grade. The SIQYA (Self Image Questionnaire for Young Adults) was
used because it consists of 98 items as well as nine scales. the nine aspects of self-image
namely emotional tone, social relations, mastery of the external world, psychopathology,
body image superior adjustments, impulse control, family relations, and vocational
educational goals. The multivariate analysis was used to measure whether the scores vary by
sex or cohort. The results presented that in accordance with sex differences, boys had a higher
average self-image score than the self-image scores of girls for three years. The research also
indicated that there was change in self-image over the years but there was no uniformity in
the rate of change. The results presented that there is complex development in self-image, as
the nine dimensions of self-image had two declining dimensions, five rising dimensions, and
two remaining stable. In conclusion, the report presented that adolescence is an age of
transitions, however, the data presents to be positive, and that self-image increases over the
years. In the case of gender, the self-image of girls is more negative than boys. This research
signifies the capabilities of young adolescents to be resilient and use various coping
8
mechanisms to face the transitions.
Student engagement is being studied on a large scale around the world. It has been found that
students who have more academic engagement tend to be more educationally productive.
Let's review a research study based on Student Engagement and its Predictors: An
Exploratory Study in Indian Business School. It was conducted by Baldev Sharma and Pradip
Bhaumik in the year 2010-2012. The main purpose of this study was to understand student
engagement in business schools. This research mainly focused upon three aspects namely
engagement of students in university, and the last part being the predictable factors that can
help administer the students, and a sample of 128 students was collected. To formulate the
questionnaire 15 items were adapted from the student engagement questionnaire of Schaufeli
et al. (2002). The students completed a 50-item questionnaire in which 40 items measured the
findings showed that students were most engaged in their academic work and actively
participated in class. However, they were less emotionally connected to the school and didn't
feel as committed to it. The study also looked for factors that could predict student
engagement. They found that students who were more committed to the institution were also
more likely to be engaged overall. However, other factors like personality traits or the
school's activities didn't have as strong a relationship with engagement. Overall, the study
provides insights into what factors influence student engagement and suggests that schools
The study titled "Academic Self-Concept, Academic Motivation, Academic Engagement, and
Academic Achievement: A Mixed Methods Study of Indian Adolescents in Canada and India"
by Shaljan Areepattamannil. The study aims to examine the relationships among academic
Indian adolescents residing in Canada and India. The objective is to understand how these
factors interact and differ in two distinct cultural and educational setting. The study utilizes a
(exact figures would be provided in the study) from both Canada and India were selected as
participants. The qualitative part would involve in-depth interviews or focus groups, though
the size might differ from the quantitative sample. The quantitative data were likely analyzed
motivation, engagement, and achievement. For the qualitative part, thematic analysis might
have been used to extract recurring themes or patterns from interviews or written responses.
The study probably concluded that academic self-concept, motivation, engagement, and
contexts. Indian adolescents in Canada might have different experiences compared to those in
India due to the distinct educational systems and cultural expectations in the two countries.
The research could provide insights into how these factors play a role in the academic
The study titled "The Development of the Self-Concept During the Adolescent Years" by
Jerome B. Dusek and John F. Flaherty. The study aimed to explore how self-concept develops
during adolescence, a critical period for identity formation. The research investigates the
provided in this summary, studies of this nature typically involve adolescents from diverse
backgrounds, potentially spanning multiple age groups. The sample would likely include a
range of adolescents to observe self-concept development over time. The study may have
used longitudinal or cross-sectional research designs, along with statistical methods such as
analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression analysis, or factor analysis. These methods would
help to identify the relationships between age, gender, social influences, and self-concept
development during adolescence. The study likely concluded that self-concept undergoes
significant changes during adolescence, shaped by various factors such as peer relationships,
family dynamics, and personal experiences. Adolescents develop a more complex and
differentiated self-concept as they age, and these changes are influenced by both internal and
external factors. The commentary by John P. Hill may have offered further insights into the
Methodology
The research mainly focused on finding a correlation between Self-image and adolescent
social engagement in university. The Quantitative research methodology has been used to
collect and calculate the data. As it provided numerical data which was further analyzed using
statistical analysis. The primary data collection process was used. This study was conducted
using Correlational research in which the Survey method was used to collect the data.
more variables. In this study, I aim to examine the relationship between two variables namely
self-image and social engagement in university. The survey method was used for data
particular event or phenomenon. The sampling method that was used consisted of Purposive
sampling. student respondents were mainly between the age group of 16-24 years. This
sampling age group was divided into three categories: 16-18 years, 19-21 years, and 22-24
years. As the age group between 16-24 years is where the maximum number of participants
attend colleges and universities, hence they are selected to be the sampling group. An online
internet survey was conducted using Google Forms. The Google form consisted of
the Consent form, Demographics, Scale-1, Scale-2, and Debriefing. There was a total of 20
statements in the Google form, 10 in scale-1 and 10 in scale-2. The scale-1 included
statements about Self-image and scale-2 included statements about social engagement. These
forms were further circulated amongst the participants and responses were collected. A 5-
point Likert scale was used in which 5- strongly disagree, 4- disagree, 3- neutral, 2- agree and
1- strongly agree. The received responses were further imported to Microsoft Excel, wherein
they were calculated using Pearson correlation. After this, the p-value was calculated to find
Results
Hypothesis:
Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant correlation between self-image and the social
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is a significant positive correlation between the self-
Table no.1
0.310
engagement
p = 0.310>0.05
p = 0.310>0.01
Thus, the Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant positive correlation between the self-
The study examines the correlation between two variables namely Self-image and Social
engagement in university. The X variable represents self-image, and the Y variable represents
social engagement in the university. The mean of X variable which is Self-image is 34.77 and
its Standard Deviation is 3.83. The Mean of the Y variable that is social engagement in
university is 31.72 and the Standard Deviation is 3.55. Further, the r value was calculated
which is 0.310. The significance of the correlation was assessed at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels.
The results revealed that the correlation was significant (p>0.232), and (p>0.302) at either
significant.
35
30
25
20
15
10
0
mean x mean y sd x sd y
Figure 1 shows the graphical representation of the correlation between self-image and social
engagement in university students. The bar chart compares the means and standard deviations
of the variables "x" (self-image) and "y" (social engagement). Both self-image (mean x) and
social engagement (mean y) exhibit similar average values, while the standard deviations for
each (SD x and SD y) are much lower, suggesting that most responses clustered around the
mean.
14
Figure 2: Scatter Plot of the Correlation Between Self-Image and Social Engagement in
University Students
Figure 2 presents a scatter plot that examines the correlation between self-image and social
engagement in university students. The points are clustered in a specific region, primarily
between values of 30 and 40 for both variables. This concentration indicates a moderate to
high level of self-image and social engagement among most respondents. The scatter plot
Discussion:
This study aims to examine the relationship between self-image and social engagement in
university students. The findings revealed that there is a significant positive correlation
between self-image and social engagement, suggesting that individuals with a positive self-
image will be more prone to be involved socially in university. Which results in the
acceptance of the alternative hypothesis. Based on the findings, it states that students who
have a positive self-image will be more involved in social activities. The positive correlation
suggests that self-image not only reflects how students view themselves but also shapes their
interactions with others. It also highlights the reciprocal nature of this relationship: while a
positive self-image facilitates social engagement, active participation in social activities can
opportunities for social interaction, which can significantly impact their self-image. Factors
such as cultural background, personal experiences, and social dynamics within the university
can shape how students perceive themselves and their place within social contexts. For
instance, students from diverse backgrounds may face unique challenges in social integration,
these contextual factors is essential for developing strategies that promote inclusivity and
enhance social participation among all students. It can be further effectively explained using
Symbolic Interactionism, individuals form their self-image based on the feedback they
receive from others during social interactions, and this self-image, in turn, influences their
[9].
future social behavior. (Mead, 1934) There is another significant research is the Social
Comparison Theory, developed by Festinger, which posits that individuals assess their
to peer comparisons in both academic and social settings. This helps explain the positive
correlation observed in this study, as students with higher self-image, bolstered by favorable
comparisons, are more likely to engage socially, while those with lower self-image may
withdraw due to negative comparisons. (Festinger, 1954) [10] . This research can be closely
related to Social cognitive theory. The perspective suggests that human thought and action are
This means that how people interpret the outcomes of their actions can influence their
environment and their personal characteristics, which in turn can affect their future
Limitations:
There are several limitations that should be considered while understanding the findings:
First, the correlational design of the study does not help in identifying and proving the causal
factors. While the results suggest a positive association between self-image and social
Second, the sample size and characteristics may have influenced the results. The sample size
Third, both self-image and social engagement are often measured using self-report
Schools can implement programs that promote positive self-image and social skills. These
programs may include activities such as mindfulness practices, and collaborative projects
among students.
Counselling and therapy can help student’s positive self-image and address the underlying
Incorporate self-esteem and social skills development into the curriculum, especially during
Help adolescents set realistic expectations for themselves and their social experiences.
Recommendations:
Longitudinal research- to establish causality, longitudinal studies can track changes in self-
Qualitative research- in-depth interviews and focus groups can provide valuable insights into
Cross-cultural research- examines the relationship between self-image and social engagement
image during early adolescence. New Directions for Mental Health Services,
University.
3. Crockett, L., Losoff, M., & Petersen, A. C. (1984). Perceptions of the peer group and
[Link]
4. Daniels, L. M., Adams, C., & McCaffrey, A. (2016). Emotional and social
[Link]
117–140. [Link]
6. Lerner, R. M., & Karabenick, S. A. (1974). Physical attractiveness, body attitudes,
and self-concept in late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 3(4), 307–
316. [Link]
[Link]
8. Petersen, A. C., Schulenberg, J. E., Abramowitz, R. H., Offer, D., & Jarcho, H. D.
[Link]
9. Quittkat, H. L., Hartmann, A. S., Düsing, R., Buhlmann, U., & Vocks, S. (2019).
[Link]
10. Schunk, D., & Pajares, F. (2010). Self-Efficacy beliefs. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 668–
672). [Link]
11. Sharma, B. R., & Bhaumik, P. K. (2013). Student Engagement and its Predictors: an
exploratory study in an Indian business school. Global Business Review, 14(1), 25–
42. [Link]
20
Appendix
Participants data:
Scale 1:
5) I feel that if I don't look good, I won't be able to fit in with my classmates.
7) I am proud of my capabilities.
activities.
Consent Form:
Researcher: Anushka Dhamal
anushkavdhamal@[Link]
Mumbai under the guidance of Ms. Bhavisha Natashe. I am aware that I am one of the 50
participants with whom the survey has been conducted. I am voluntarily being a part of this
study and no incentives have been provided to me for participating in this survey. There is no
compulsion for completing this survey and I can withdraw at any time. I am also aware that
all the information provided by me will be kept confidential except by the researcher and the
guide.
I disagree
Debriefing:
Thank you for participating in this study on "The Social Mirror: examining the
this study, I aim to investigate the connection between adolescents' self-image and
research are based on body image, peer relationships, vocational and educational
goals, and superior adjustment. These factors are taken from the Self Image
Questionnaire for Young Adults (SIQYA) Scale, which consists of 98 items and 9
scales. A 5-point Likert Scale is used to collect the responses. The hypothesis for this
study suggests a positive correlation between positive self-image and healthier social
participation in university. This implies that participants with a positive self-image are