PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A PREDICTOR OF SELF-ESTEEM AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Self-esteem in emerging adulthood has been linked repeatedly to perceived social support, but the evidence base is drawn overwhelmingly from Western, Middle Eastern and East Asian samples, and Nigerian data remain sparse. This study examined the relationship between perceived social support and self-esteem among young adults in a Nigerian university. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Two hundred and twenty-seven undergraduates of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Perceived social support was positively and significantly associated with self-esteem, r(225) = .23, p < .01, 95% CI [.10, .35], accounting for approximately five per cent of the variance in self-esteem scores. Mean perceived support fell within the moderate band of the scale, and mean self-esteem lay above the scale midpoint. None of the demographic variables assessed, including age, marital status and religious affiliation, was significantly related to self-esteem. The direction of the association replicates findings from Turkish, Israeli, Indian and Malaysian samples, although the magnitude is smaller than in several of those studies. The use of a total support score, which collapses family, peer and significant-other sources, is advanced as the most likely reason for the attenuation, and source-disaggregated replication in Nigerian samples is recommended. Practical implications for university counselling provision are discussed.

Keywords: perceived social support; self-esteem; young adults; emerging adulthood; Nigeria