Self-Esteem
Inventories and
Research
Week Four
Agenda
• Can self-esteem be measured?
• What tools (inventories) are
available for use?
• What criteria does Branden
suggest for measuring selfesteem?
Defining Research Constructs
Defining “validity”
• Is the criterion in the question ‘valid’?
That is, does it really measure what we
imply that it should?
Defining “reliability”
• Would the criterion in the question
always produce the same result
– (at different times, with different people)
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
• Originally developed to measure adolescents' global
feelings of self-worth or self-acceptance
• Generally considered the standard against which other
measures of self-esteem are compared.
• It includes 10 items that are usually scored using a
four-point response ranging from strongly disagree to
strongly agree.
• The items are face valid, and the scale is short and
easy and fast to administer.
• Extensive and acceptable reliability (internal
consistency and test-retest) and validity (convergent
and discriminant) information exists for the Rosenberg
Self-Esteem Scale
The Coopersmith
Self-Esteem Inventory
• Developed through research to assess attitude toward
oneself in general, and in specific contexts:
–
–
–
–
peers
parents
school
personal interests.
• It was originally designed for use with children, drawing
on items from scales that were previously used by Carl
Rogers.
• Respondents state whether a set of 50 generally
favorable or unfavorable aspects of a person are "like
me" or "not like me."
• Acceptable reliability (internal consistency and testretest) and validity (convergent and discriminant)
information exists for the Self-Esteem Inventory
Rodin and McAvay
• Developed and validated a selfefficacy measure designed to be
particularly relevant to older adults
that includes the domain of health.
– Interpersonal efficacy
• dealing with friends and family
– instrumental efficacy
• finances, safety, productivity
• Has a total of eight items.
Froman and Owen
• Published a health self-efficacy measure
intended for use with high school
students.
• The 43 item scale has two subscales
– Physical Health
– Mental Health
• Respondents are asked to indicate their
confidence in their ability to perform 43
behaviors, such things as "eating a
balanced diet", "maintaining friendships",
and "telling the truth".
Limitations to SE Inventories
• Perhaps the biggest limitation of all measures of
self-esteem is their susceptibility to socially
desirable responding.
• Most measures are self-report, and it is difficult to
obtain non-self-report measures of such a
personal and subjective construct.
• Also, scores tend to be skewed toward high selfesteem, with even the lowest scorers on most
tests scoring above the mean and exhibiting fairly
high levels of self-esteem
• Researchers recently have switched to measuring
differences between explicit SE and implicit SE,
as measured by automatic responses
The Philosophy of
Self-Esteem
Branden, Chapter 12
Beliefs About the Self That
Support Self-Esteem
• No one is here on earth to live up
to my expectations
• If people treat me discourteously
or disrespectfully, it is a reflection
on them, not on me
• I have a right to make mistakes…
that is one of the ways I learn
Beliefs About Living Consciously
• I am better served by correcting
my mistakes than by pretending
they do not exist
• I need to be on the lookout for
temptations to evade unpleasant
facts; I need to manage my
avoidance impulses and not be
ruled by them
Beliefs About Self-Responsibility
• I am responsible for raising my
self-esteem; no one else can give
me self-esteem
• I accept that no one is coming to
make my life right, or save me, or
redeem my childhood or rescue
me from the consequences of my
choices and actions.
Beliefs About Living Purposefully
• Only I properly can choose the
goals and purposes for which I
live. No one else can
appropriately design my existence
• I serve my interests by a high
degree of reality checking
• My self-esteem is more valuable
than any short-term rewards for its
betrayal