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Preventive Medicine 2018 Journal of Preventive Medicine
ISSN: 2572-5483 Page 42
July 16-17, 2018
London, UK
9th Edition of International Conference on
Preventive Medicine
& Public Health
Different ethnic groups comprise around 1.6 million of
the national population. Santals, the second largest
ethnic community are mostly found in the northern part of
Bangladesh. With their own distinct language and culture, these
ethnic groups have significantly enriched the entire culture of
the country. However, lower socio-economic conditions along
with a different language and culture hinders free intermingling
of these people with mainstream population and leads ethnic
discrimination. Perception of discrimination lowers the
psychological wellbeing, and in the long run undermines self-
esteem, of the individual. Mental wellbeing is recognized as a
part of health, according to the definition of health accepted
by World Health Organization. In 2017, a cross sectional study
was undertaken to find out the relationship between perceived
ethnic discrimination and self-esteem of Santal adolescents.
A total of 159 Santal adolescents, boys and girls of age 11–
17 years from 3 secondary schools of Dinajpur district were
interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire containing
questions on perceived ethnic discrimination and self-esteem
by using Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire
(PEDQ) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSS). Female were
higher in number (66%) than male. Half of them were below
age 14 years (49.7%) and 40% studied in boarding school.
Large proportion of respondents’ parents were illiterate (father
49.7%, mother 59.7%). Nearly half of the fathers (47.8%)
earned through agricultural work and mothers were found to be
housewives (65.4%). Result indicated all most all respondents
stated that, they experienced ethnic discrimination. Among
them older adolescents perceived higher ethnic discrimination
than younger (p=0.070). Again it was higher among the
respondents studying in boarding school (p=0.000) than those
who lived with their parents. Self-esteem is higher in younger
adolescents (p=0.037) and females (p=0.000). Other variables
like parents’ and respondents’ academic attainment, monthly
expenditure of the respondents were found associated with
level of respondents self-esteem (p=0.006, p=0.007, p=0.020
respectively). Multiple linear regressions indicated sex and
monthly personal expenditure of respondent can predict
the levels of self-esteem. Correlation analysis showed that
self-esteem was positively associated with higher perceived
discrimination. Besides influence of perception of ethnic
discrimination on self-esteem, further studies need to be
conducted to discover factors related to psychological health
among the members of ethnic groups.
Biography
Borsha Soren, MBBS, is a graduate of Dinajpur Medical College under Ra-
jshahi University, Bangladesh. She has been working as a Government
Physician for Peoples Republic of Bangladesh for last four years. She has
served the community people in different rural hospitals in Bangladesh for
two years. She has completed MPH in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University on 2017.
Ethnic discrimination and self-esteem of Santal adolescents
Borsha Soren1 , Irfan Noor and Afroza Begum
1NIPSOM – BSMMU, Bangladesh
Borsha Soren et al., J Prev Med 2018, Volume 3
DOI: 10.21767/2572-5483-C1-002