title: General and specific self-esteem in late adolescent students: race x gender x SES effects.
abstract: This study assessed the effects of gender, race, and social class on the general and area-specific self-esteem of high school students. One hundred and ninety-five high school students served as subjects in a 2 (gender: male, female) X 2 (race: black, white) X 3 (social class: low, middle and high) factorial design. The Rosenberg General Self-Esteem, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept, and the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability and School Achievement scales were the measures of either general or specific self-esteem. Females, whites, and lower social class adolescents were consistently lower in their self-esteem scores than were males, blacks, and upper social class teenagers, respectively. White females were found to be lower in general and happiness self-esteem than all other gender by race subgroups. High SES white students were lower on the happiness and behavior self-esteem measures than black students and white middle-class students. Black males and white females were less confident in their school ability than were black females and white males.
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010553:Personality Development; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors