Self-Esteem of Youth Participating in Theatre Performance:A Malaysian Scenario

A major developmental task during adolescent is the development of a sense of identity. Thesuccess of this stage of development will be the basis for development in the next stage of thedevelopmental as a youth; where the development task is to build intimate relationship. Youthwith a strong sense of self-esteem will establish better re lationship and greater intimacy withanother person. In this aspect, theatre is identified as one ofthe common developmental programsused because through performing, the youth are ab le to project a new iden tity and discoverthemselves. The study was aimed at identifying the extent of the self-esteem development amongthe youth as a result of participating in theatre performances and identifying the most influentialtheatre performance elements that co ntributed to the development of self-esteem. The find ingsof the study indicated that youth who participated in the theatre performances had a higherlevel of self-esteem.