title: Is self-esteem a cause or consequence of social support? A 4-year longitudinal study.
abstract: Considerable research has been devoted to examining the relations between self-esteem and social support. However, the exact nature and direction of these relations are not well understood. Measures of self-esteem, and social support quantity and quality were administered to 961 adolescents across five yearly time points (M(age) = 13.41 years). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test between a self-esteem antecedent model (self-esteem precedes changes in social support), self-esteem consequence model (social support precedes change in self-esteem), and a reciprocal influence model. Self-esteem reliably predicted increasing levels of social support quality and network size across time. In contrast, the consequence model was not supported. The implications of this for helping adolescents to develop higher quality social support structures are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Western Sydney.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: University of Western Sydney.
authors.forename: Phillip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: University of Western Sydney.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ciarrochi
authors.affiliation: Australian Catholic University.
authors.forename: Patrick C L
authors.initials: PCL
authors.lastname: Heaven
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support