The notions of self-esteem and self-anxiety
The level of self-esteem (SE), as well as the level of self-anxiety (SA), is influenced by several factors. We are going to demonstrate the correlation of the level of SE with the level of SA among nursing students in our work. According to Rosenberg, SE is the evaluation that individuals have about themselves, “it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval towards self” (Suliman & Halabi, 2006, p. 163). The level of SE is influenced by three main factors namely reflected appraisal (individuals’ interpretation of the people’s attitude towards them), social comparisons (viewing self compared to other members of the society), and self-attribution (concluding self taking into account all wins and failures) (Suliman & Halabi, 2006, p. 163). SE is closely connected with SA as far as when the level of SE is low the level of SA rises. Anxiety may be defined as “an uncomfortable sense of insecurity” (Suliman & Halabi, 2006, p. 163). The level of SA depends on interpersonal, intrapersonal, and extrapersonal forces (Tomori & Rus-Makovec, 2000, p. 361).
The factors influencing the level of self-esteem and self-anxiety
Anxiety among nursing students may be caused by several factors including financial problems, information overload, long hours of study, the pressure of clinical courses, failures in the study, and lack of time to prepare for exams and meet the teachers’ expectations. The level of anxiety influences the level of study progress as far as anxiety causes blocking of memory and recall and misrepresentation of information. Nursing students are overloaded with different kinds of home assignments during their studies. The educational program is very difficult to even for skillful students. Students who are not able to cope with these difficulties feel anxiety and as a result, their SE is lowered and it reflects on their study progress and their life particularly.
The findings of self-esteem and self-anxiety among nursing students
Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale is used to control the nursing students’ SE. It consists of 10 statements where five are positively worded and five are negatively worded. The high the score the high is SE. Zung’s self-rating anxiety scale is used in our research to investigate the level of anxiety among nursing students. It includes 20 statements where the students have to tick the frequency of these phenomena in their life. Comparing the results of these two scales we may compare the interconnection of SE and SA.
The participants of our research are ten students belonging to different ethnic groups. There are four black people from America, two Indians, three Frenchmen, and one British. As the results show the ethnicity plays a very valuable role in the level of SE and SA. The lowest level of SE is observed among Indians who are not satisfied with themselves. The highest level of SE is observed among Frenchmen who are quite proud of themselves. The level of SA is the highest among black people from America that may be explained by some historical factors connected with discrimination. These findings have been done during their ordinary study. Findings made during their examination period demonstrate the highest levels of SA among nearly all students. Exams make them anxious and all indicators of Zung’s scale are high. More than that, the level of study progress influences the level of SE. Nursing students who have good marks demonstrate the highest levels of SE. Nevertheless, students who have bad marks do not feel anxiety during the examination period as much as those who have the highest marks. The students with a high level of study progress are more vulnerable to low SE if they fail their exams as far as they are accustomed to having the best results.
From the above said we may conclude that the level of SE and SA is connected to some facts including ethnicity, study progress, and many external factors. Nursing students are more vulnerable to anxiety and low levels of SE as far as they have a complicated study program.
Reference
Suliman, W. & Halabi, J. (2006). Critical thinking, self-esteem, and state anxiety of nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 27, 162-168.
Tomori, M. & Rus-Makovec, M. (2000). Eating Behavior, Depression, and Self-esteem in High School Students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26, 361-367.