Rahel Tajeddini, an Indian psychologist carried out a comparative study about the self-esteem of Indian youths in 2014. 400 students (200 males & 200 females, 200 Indians & 200 outsiders) who were doing specialization courses after their respective graduation participated in this research. They were within the age group of 20-35 and from 32different countries including India. It was concluded that, as a group, Indian students had a lower self-esteem than foreign students. The participants were subdivided into different subgroups such as the age groups of 20-25 and 25-30, those who went to parties and those who did not, or those who were doing masters courses, etc. In all these subgroups, Indians again had a lower self-esteem than foreign students (, 2014, pp. 32–39). Since it was a comparative study it did not evaluate the healthiness of the self-esteem of either group (Indians or outsiders), but it is interesting to note that Indians showed a comparatively lower self-esteem in the general population as well as in all the subgroups, without exception.
People of East Asia consistently reported to have low self-esteem than the Western people in the researches. Therefore, researchers showed greater interest to understand the distinction between the infl uence of individualistic and collectivistic cultures on individuals’ self-esteem. Different to independent cultures interdependence and interpersonal relationships are extremely important in collectivistic cultures. Collectivistic cultures generally do not promote the self-competence and the cognitive self-evaluations as in the individualistic cultures. Such cultural and psycho-socio elements seemed to have an essential impact on individuals’ self-esteem.
Various sociological theories and some recent empirical studies specifi ed the infl uence of neighbourhood risks on the self-esteem of the individuals. Negative appraisals lead to low self-esteem among individuals living in high risk neighbourhood. Individuals internalize negative self-worth while recognizing that their neighbourhood was not invested well. The fi nancial strain in the family negatively infl uences children’s self-esteem. Then, socially constructed parenting styles also found infl uencing the individuals. Authoritarian parenting was common among the people with low socioeconomic status and lower educational level and which damages the self-esteem of the children.
Colonization is another cultural factor that may infl uence the self-esteem of Indians. India has a long colonial history of about 400 years under different Western powers like the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish and British. Colonization indeed creates profound problems in the identity and self-esteem of an individual. Post-colonies, in general, have the diffi cult task of searching for their authentic cultural identities. Instilling a ‘cultural pride’ or ‘native pride’, such as building self-esteem and recognizing and working against feelings of undeservingness, has become a critical mission for them over several generations. People of colonized cultures experience an internalized oppression and colonial mentality, which endanger their self-esteem. Colonial mentality means perceiving cultural inferiority that involves uncritical rejection of one’s own culture and uncritical preference for anything of colonial culture. This colonial mentality stems from classical colonialism and persists through generations as ‘internal colonialism’ in contemporary oppression. Some empirical studies have concluded that colonial mentality is negatively correlated with collective self-esteem. Nevertheless, a group of social psychologists argue that this process of internalization to a colonial mentality affecting the collective self-esteem of an individual may be moderated by himself. In contrast, others fi nd a defi nite negative impact of colonization on the SE of colonized people. In short, the historical fact of colonization can be a prospect of unfavourable infl uence on the self-esteem of an Indian even today.
– Fr.Jo Paul Kiriyanthan