Two hundred and one unemployed men and women participated in a cross-sectional

study that assessed self-esteem, financial deprivation, number of alternate roles, and use
of social support. Financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support each had a
main effect on self-esteem. In addition, these variables interacted with gender to affect
self-esteem. Specifically, financial deprivation had a greater negative association with
self-esteem in men as compared with women. In contrast, alternate roles and social
support had a stronger positive relationship to self-esteem in women than in men. The
incorporation of these findings into intervention programs for unemployed persons is
discussed.

Self-esteem can be important in terms of how one thinks, feels, and responds to stressful
life events (Overholser et al., 1995). Research has also shown a relation between low
self-esteem and feelings of depression and hopelessness in adolescence. Females with
low self-esteem are twice as likely to develop depression following a stressful life event
than those with average or high self-esteem (Andrews, 1998). During adolescence, a
person may experience increased stress in relation to school, friends, and family, as well
as new responsibilities and interests (Overholser et al., 1995).

An adolescent's environment, especially school, can have a significant influence on self-

esteem development, with junior and senior high being critical years (Chubb et al., 1997).
Junior high school has been shown to be an important transition time for an adolescent in
terms of healthy self-esteem development (Eccles, Midgley, & Adler, 1984; Seidman,
Aber, Allen, & French, 1996). In a relevant longitudinal study, it was found that
adolescent self-esteem development may be disrupted by transition to a new school
(junior high or high school) (Wigfield, Eccles, Mac Iver, Reuman, & Midgley, 1991).
This finding could be related to the interruption of students' social networks at a time
when friends and peers are important to adolescent development. Another study found
that adolescents who remained in a stable school environment had a greater increase in
level of self-esteem over an 18-month period than did adolescents who changed school
environments (Cairns, McWhirter, Duffy, & Barry, 1990).

Many factors are related to self-esteem development in adolescence; previous research

has focused on academic ability, social acceptance, body image, gender differences,
school environment, media influences, socioeconomic status, relationship with family,
age, and ethnicity (e.g., Phinney, Cantu, & Kurtz, 1997). For this study, the focus was on
investigating self-esteem in relation to age, ethnicity, gender, and risk behaviors among
students attending schools outside the mainstream educational system.

AGE AND SELF-ESTEEM

Findings on age as a predictor of self-esteem have been inconsistent. Several longitudinal

studies (Bergman & Scott, 2001; Block & Robins, 1993; Chubb et al., 1997; Wade,
Thompson, Tashakkori, & Valente, 1989) and a cross-sectional study (Mullis &
Chapman, 2000) found that self-esteem levels remained constant with increased age, and
therefore increased age was not a significant predictor of self-esteem. Other longitudinal
research indicated a gradual increase in self-esteem across adolescence (Hirsch &
Rapkin, 1987; Jones & Meredith, 1996; O'Malley & Bachman, 1983; Wigfield et al.,
1991). Conversely, other studies have shown that self-esteem decreased over time during
adolescence (Brown et al., 1998; Robins, Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, & Potter, 2002).
Robins and colleagues (2002) reported that self-esteem is highest during childhood, drops
significantly during adolescence, and then increases again into adulthood. Age, as a
predictor of self-esteem, has yielded many different findings. Thus, it may be useful to
explore the relation between age and self-esteem in nonmainstream student samples in
order to clarify this disparate knowledge base.

GENDER AND SELF-ESTEEM

Previous research on gender, in relation to self-esteem, has been fairly consistent. The
majority of studies have found that during adolescence, females report lower self-esteem
(Cairns et al., 1990; Chubb et al., 1997; Martinez & Dukes, 1991; Quatman & Watson,
2001) and greater depressive mood (Marcotte, Fortin, Potvin, & Papillon, 2002) in
comparison to males. Some research has also shown that not only do adolescent females
report lower self-esteem, but their self-esteem decreases and depressive symptoms
increase over time when compared with males (e.g., Robins et al., 2002).

Maehr and Nicholls (1980) suggested that some gender differences in self-esteem might
be due to a response bias, in that girls have been found to be more modest in self-report
measures than boys. Furthermore, some research has shown that gender differences in
adolescent self-esteem may be linked to gender differences in the perception of physical
appearance. For example, a longitudinal study of students in the 3rd through 11th grades
indicated that in elementary school, boys and girls viewed their physical appearance
equally, but at the end of high school, girls' views of their physical appearance was
significantly lower than those of boys (Harter, 2000). Brown and colleagues (1998) also
found that European American boys rated themselves as more attractive and reported
liking themselves better relative to European American girls. In addition, African
American females were found to be as adjusted or better adjusted than European
Americans, to generally feel satisfied with themselves, and to have high educational
expectations (Gibbs, 1985). In conclusion, the available research consistently shows that
males tend to have higher self-esteem than do females; therefore it is important to explore
gender in relation to self-esteem among nonmainstream students.

Reference:

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