International Journal of Sport Sciences

5

Authors: Toraj Yousefi, Farhad Shakeri, Mohammadbagher Forghani Ozrudi

The aim of this study was to describe and compare the self-concept, self-esteem and psychopathological symptoms in 15-18 years old girls and boys in Babol high schools. Objective: We considered the correlations between these variables, too. 800 boys and girls (100 boys and 100 girls of every age category in high school and pre university) were fulfilled the self-esteem scale, self-concept questionnaire and psychopathological symptoms inventory (SCL-90-R). Data were analyzed with multiple ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests and was using statistical software SPSS22. Pearson correlation was used to determine correlations between variables (P<0.05). Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference with age in self-concept, self-esteem and the quality of psychopathological symptoms between ages 15-18. Also there were no significant differences due to gender in self-concept and self-esteem, but girls had significantly higher scores in psychopathological symptoms than boys. Conclusion: The results indicated significant negative correlations between self-concept and self-esteem and many of psychopathological symptoms in both boys and girls. The existence of significant inverse relationships between self-concept/self-esteem and psychopathological symptoms suggest that self-concept and self-esteem may be consider as indicators of mental health. Also intervention programmers that promote self-concept and self-esteem in the prevention of psychopathological problems are suggested as necessity.