Social Class and Self-esteem among Adolescents in Hong Kong
Research Proposal
Research Objectives
Self-esteem is one of our most basic psychological needs. Researches on this subject suggest that self-esteem impacts the major aspects of our lives, like our thinking process, emotions, desires, value, choices, and goals. Self-esteem holds a considerable significance in both the individual and social context. Most importantly, it deals with adolescents’ concern of personal growth. Self-esteem affects how an adolescent search for a clear and stable self-definition ( Cheung, T. S., 1984). So, this is why I decided to generate a research on adolescents’ self-esteem.

It is commonly believed that the level of self-esteem varies
It rejects Rosenberg’s theory by arguing children in Hong Kong are more earlier to have class conscious due to more contacts with peers of different SES.

A Report on the Study of Self-esteem of Secondary School Students. Hong Kong
Polytechnic and Family Service, Caritus – Hong Kong. 1993. This work uses a 0-34

points score scale to measurement the self-esteem of randomly selected Hong Kong secondary school students. The modal score is 24. The report concludes that parental and teachers’ care and school academic grades as important factors affecting secondary school students’ self-esteem. Glancing at the questionnaire of the survey, no questions are asked on students’ socio-economic status. Is this an ignorance? So I would like to conduct it once again with more considerations.

Szymanski, Albert (1983). Class Structure: A Critical Perspective. Praeger. The

author traces the origins and development of class, and some important issues like race and class, etc. It helps me define social class theoretically and operationally.

In conclusion, the literature listed above gives a valuable reference in conceptualizing my variables. It also brings me multi-angled views in judging and setting my hypothesis. With incorporating different elements of these literature into my research project plus my new perception about this issue, I expect a