The 1.2 billion young people in the world have enormous potential, but they also confront many obstacles, such as unemployment, social instability, and low self-esteem. In order to overcome these obstacles and support young people in becoming self-assured and resilient, leadership in educational institutions is important. This study investigates the effects of full range leadership styles on students’ self-esteem in Salesian higher education institutions. Two important instruments were used to survey a sample of 545 students between the ages of 17 and 25: the Self-Competence/Self-Liking Scale (SLCS) to measure self-esteem and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to evaluate leadership styles. Regression models and t-tests were used in the analysis to evaluate the interactions between these variables, with an emphasis on gender differences. The findings indicate that students’ self-esteem is positively impacted by laissez-faire leadership, most likely as a result of autonomy. It’s interesting to note that in this situation, self-esteem was not much impacted by transformational or transactional leadership approaches. Additionally, gender disparities surfaced, with male students reacting more favourably to laissez-faire leadership than female students. These results imply that context and environment have a significant impact on leadership outcomes. While transactional and transformational leadership styles may be more suited to team-oriented or academic objectives, laissez-faire leadership may increase self-esteem by encouraging independence. This study promotes more research on the psychological and cultural elements that affect educational leadership and emphasises the necessity of leadership development programs that strike a balance between autonomy and direction.