Assessment of Global Negative Self-Evaluations and Perceived Stability of Self in Norwegian Preadolescents and Adolescents

Abstract

A special problem in the study of self-esteem is the use of quite different instruments for subjects at different age levels. In the present paper the primary goal was to construct a scale that could be used to assess global self-evaluations in children as well as in adolescents and adults. The scale presented (GSE) based mainly on Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) was used in this study with 2478 children aged 10 to 15 years. A second goal was to examine the appropriateness of Rosenberg's Stability of Self Scale when used with preadolescents aged 12 to 15. The internal consistency of the new scale (GSE) and of the slightly modified Stability of Self Scale was quite satisfactory (around .80). In addition a principal component analysis showed that the pattern of factor loadings was similar for subjects of different ages, indicating that the items were interpreted and responded to in roughly the same way by fourth through seventh graders. As expected, the GSE Scale correlated quite substantially with self-reports dimensions reflecting social anxiety and frequency of harassment by other students. The results indicate that the GSE Scale is a good unidimensional measure of global self-evaluations that can be used with subjects from age 10 at least and across a considerable age range.