Self-esteem and related influence factors in military college students

AIM: To study the self-esteem and related influence factors in military college students for better mental health education. METHODS: Self-esteem Scale (SES) was used to investigate 3575 military college students in their self-esteem level and related factors. RESULTS: In the military college students examined, the self-esteem level of the male(30.31±3.86) was higher than that of the female (29.58±3.95), that of the students from the city(30.25±4.13)was higher than that of students from the countryside (29.75±3.75), that of students from one-child family (30.54±4.09)was higher than that of students from more-than-one child family(30.17±3.98), and that of 4-year program undergraduates(30.17±3.98) was higher than that of 3-year undergraduates(29.09±3.86), with significant differences between the groups (P0.001). The self- esteem level of the students whose parents had at least college education (30.39±4.11) was higher than that of the students whose parents had lower education (P0.01). The self-esteem level of the students increased with the economic status of their families (P0.01). Students at different grade of different major had different levels of self-esteem (P0.01). The self-esteem level of second-grade students(29.43±3.93)was the lowest and fourth-grade students(30.94±4.10) was the highest. The self-esteem level of students with good major satisfaction(30.59± 3.79)was higher than those with lower or no major satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The self-esteem of the military college students has been influenced by the factors of society, family and individual cognition. Well-directed measures should be taken to cultivate their self-esteem.