SELF-ESTEEM AND STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS OF UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

SERAP EML

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

SEPTEMBER 2003

Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Prof. Dr. Bahattin Akit

Director

I certify that this thesis satisifies all the requirements as a thesis for the
degree of Master of Science.

Prof. Dr. Hasan imek

Head of Department
This to certify that we have read this thesis and in our opinion it is fully
adequate in scope and quality and as a thesis for the degree of Master of
Science

Prof. Dr. Ayhan Demir

Supervisor

Examining Committee Members

Prof. Dr. Ayhan Demir

Do. Dr. Safure Bulut

Yrd. Do. Dr. Ahmet Ok

ABSTRACT

SELF-ESTEEM AND STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS OF UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS

Emil, Serap
M. S., Department of Educational Sciences
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ayhan Demir

September 2003, 95 pages

This study examined the frequency of university students with selfesteem level at first. Moreover, the difference between male and female and
the difference between achiever and non-achiever students were examined
with respect to self-esteem.

Also the relationship between self-esteem

score of university students and stressful life events was examined. Three
hundred thirty one university students from different grades and
departments of Middle East Technical University have been participated in
this study. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), Life Events Inventory for
University Students (LEIU) and four-question demographic information form
were used for this study. Factor analysis for LEIU was made for this study.
At the end of the factor-analysis, three factors were identified. These were
iii

called as self-related anxiety/problems; environmental, adjustment,

family events/problems; and academic events/problems. To examine the
percentage of students with high and low self-esteem, frequency of the
participant was calculated. In addition, independent samples t-test was
applied to investigate the difference between male-female and achievernon-achiever students on self-esteem, while Pearson product moment
correlation was applied to examine the relationship between self-esteem
and stressful life events. It was found that there were 302 students (88.6 %)
with high self-esteem level, while there were 39 students (11.4 %) with low
self-esteem level. According to independent samples t-test results, it was
found that achiever students self-esteem score was higher than nonachiever students whereas there is no significant difference between male
and female on the self-esteem score. Finally, it was found that there is a
significant

relationship

between

self-related

anxiety/problems,

environmental, adjustment, family problems and academic events/problems

and self-esteem.

Keywords: Self-esteem, Stressful Life Events

iv

NVERSTE RENCLERNN Z BENLK SAYGISI VE STRESL

YAAM OLAYLARI

Emil, Serap
Yksek Lisans, Eitim Bilimleri Blm
Tez Yneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ayhan Demir

Eyll 2003, 95 sayfa

Bu almada ncelikle niversite rencilerinin z benlik saygs

dzeyleri, daha sonra kz-erkek, baarl-baarsz renciler arasndaki z
benlik saygs farkll incelenmitir. Son olarak, z benlik saygsnn stresli
yaam olaylar ile ilikisi incelenmitir. almaya Orta Dou Teknik
niversitesi (ODT)nin farkl blm ve snf dzeylerinden toplam yz
krk bir renci katlmtr. almada rencilere Rosenberg z Benlik
Saygs lei (SES), niversite rencilerine Ynelik Yaam Olaylar
lei (YO) ve 4 soruluk demografik bilgi formu uygulanmtr. Bu
aratrma iin YO leinin faktr analizi yaplmtr. Faktr analizi
v

sonucunda faktr belirlenmitir. Bunlar srasyla benlik ile ilgili

kayg/problemler; evresel, uyum ve aile ile ilgili olay/problemler; akademik
olayproblemlerdir. z benlik saygs yksek ve dk olan rencilerin
frekans hesaplanmtr. Ayrca, z benlik saygs asndan kz ve erkek
renciler ile baarl ve baarsz renciler arasndaki farklln
anlamll Bamsz t-testi ile test edilmitir. Stresli yaam olaylar ile z
benlik saygs arasndaki iliki Pearson korelasyon katsays analizi
kullanlarak saptanmtr. alma sonucunda ilk olarak, 302 rencinin (%
88.6) z benlik saygs yksek bulunurken, 39 rencinin (%11.4) z benlik
saygsnn dk olduu grlmtr. Bamsz t-testi sonucunda baarl
rencilerin z benlik saygsnn baarsz olanlarnkinden anlaml dzeyde
daha yksek olduu bulunmutur. Ancak z benlik saygs asndan kz ve
erkek renciler arasnda anlaml bir fark bulunamamtr. Son olarak,
benlik ile

ilgili kayg/problemler; evresel, uyum ve

aile ile

ilgili

olay/problemler; akademik olaylar/problemler ile z benlik saygs arasnda

anlaml bir iliki bulunmutur.

Anahtar Kelimeler: z benlik saygs, Stresli yaam olaylar

vi

I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Date:

Signature:

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ayhan Demir

for his guidance, insight and encouragement throughout the research.
Special thanks goes to Do. Dr. Safure Bulut and Yrd. Do. Dr. Ahmet Ok.
Thanks to Ayem ebnem Karada, Assistant Chairperson of Department
of Modern Languages, for her help during the application of survey. My
special thanks go to zlem elik for her help, support and understanding,
my colleague, Gzde Ba Yldrm and my family.

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ..........................

iii

Z ........................................

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................

ix

LIST OF TABLES

xi

LIST OF FIGURES .

xii

CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION ..

1.1 Background of the Study ...

1.2 Purpose and Problem Statements of the Study .

11

1.3 Significance of the Study 12

1.3 Definition of Terms .. 14
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..

15

2.1 Self/Self-Esteem Theories .

15

2.2 Stressful Life Events Theories/Background

31

2.3 Studies About Self-Esteem and Stressful Life Events ..

37

3. METHOD .

48

3.1 The Overall Design of The Study .

48

3.2 The Participants of the Study

49

3.3 The Instruments ..

50

ix

3.4 The Procedure .

57

3.5 Data Analysis ... 57

3.6 Limitations of the Study .....

58

4. RESULTS . 59
4.1 Self-Esteem Levels .

59

4.2 Gender Differences on Self-Esteem

60

4.3 Academic Achievement Differences on Self-Esteem

61

4.4 Stressful Life Events and Self-Esteem ...

62

5. DISCUSSION ..

63

5.1 Discussion of the Findings . 63

5.2 Implications ..

70

5.3 Recommendations for Further Studies

72

REFERENCE ..

74

APPENDIX ...

92

A. Demographic Information Form ... 92

B. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale . 93
C. Life Events Inventory for University Students 94

LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
1. Three Factors Analysis Results for LEIU .... 54
2. Degree of Self-Esteem Among Students .... 60
3. Means, Standard Deviations and t-Value of Gender on SelfEsteem .. 60
4.

Means,

Standard

Deviations

and

t-Value

of

Academic

Achievement on Self-Esteem

xi

61

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE
1. Process Model of the Stress/Health Relationship, based on the
Transactional Stress Theory by Lazarus . 33

xii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Background of the Study

Personality is basically defined as consistent behavior patterns
originating within the individual (Burger, 1990, p.3). Four aspects of
personality can be considered with this definition. First aspect of personality
is consistency that ones behavior patterns show some stability. This
consistency exists across time and situations. Second aspect is that
personality originates within the individual. Third, the definition focuses on
the individuals behavior. Not only given to the situation is observed but also
understanding the reasons of behavior changing for every person. Finally
behavior is emphasized on (Burger, 1990).

According to Sullivan (1953), personality is defined as relatively

enduring pattern of recurrent interpersonal situations which characterize a
human life (pp.15). Fromm (1947) has defined personality with respect to
sociological approach, as the totality of inherited and acquired psychic
qualities which are characteristic of one individual and which make
1

individual unique (pp.9). For Allport (1961) personality is the dynamic

organization placing within the individual psychophysical systems. These
psychophysical systems determine his/her characteristics, behavior and
thought.

As the first emphasis of this study, self-esteem has shown to be a

significant personality variable in determining human behavior. To
understand a man psychologically, one must understand the nature and
degree of ones self-esteem, and the standards that one judges oneself.
One experiences ones desire for self-esteem as an urgent, imperative and
a basic need. One feels so intensely the need of a positive view of oneself
(Branden, 1970). That explains the reason that self-esteem level of
university students was analyzed firstly in the present study.

Self-esteem is confidence in ones capacity to achieve values

(Branden, 1970). It is subjective and enduring sense of realistic selfapproval. It reflects how the individual views and values the self at the most
fundamental levels of psychological experiencing (Bednar & Peterson,
1995).

Coopersmith (1967) defined self-esteem as the evaluation, which

the individual makes and customarily maintains with regards to him/herself.
Campbell and Lavallee (1993) define self-esteem as a self-reflexive attitude
that is the product of viewing the self as an object of evaluation. In addition,
Hales (1989) defines self-esteem as the evaluative function of the self2

concept. Self-esteem, thus, is the affective, or emotional experience of the

evaluations one makes in the frame of ones personal worth. On the other
hand, a social psychology text defines self-esteem as an affective
component of the self, that is persons positive and negative self-evaluations
about him/herself (Brehm & Kassin, 1993). Nozick (1974) defined selfesteem as an essentially comparative notion that is one evaluates
him/herself how well he/she does something with respect to how others can
do or by comparing his/her performance to others.

The California State Task Force on Self-Esteem (1990) defines selfesteem as appreciating my own worth and importance and having the
character to be accountable for myself and to act responsibly towards
others (p.1)

Osborne (1993) defined self-esteem as a relatively permanent

positive or negative feeling about self that may become more or less
positives and negatives as individuals encounter and interpret success and
failures in their daily lives. For James (1890), self-esteem couldnt simply be
reduced to the aggregate of perceived success. Rather, it derived from the
ratio of successes to ones pretensions. Thus, if the individual evaluates the
self positively in domains where he/she aims to excel -high self-esteem will
result. That means perceived successes are equal to ones pretensions or
aspiration for success results in high self-esteem. Conversely, if the
pretensions exceed successes- that is, if an individual feels unsuccessful in
domains believed in important- he/she would experience low self-esteem.
3

Self-esteem is an intrinsic and universal part of human experience

and it is a key concept for explaining the inherent secrets of human
behavior as a cure for social and individual problems (Ward, 1996). Harter
(1985) has defined self-esteem as the level of global regard that one has
for the self as a person.

Erikson (1968) identified self-esteem as a function of identity

development that results from successfully addressing the tasks associated
with each of the developmental stages of life. Thus ones sense of
developing, growing, and confronting lives tasks leads to feelings of worth.
To him, one with healthy personality actively masters his/her environments
showing a certain unity of personality and one can perceive the world and
himself/herself in a correct way. Self-esteem is focused upon feelings of
personal worth and the level of satisfaction regarding ones self (Garry,
1999). Another approach to defining self-esteem is to identify the almost
universally accepted components of self-esteem. They are a cognitive
element, or the characterizing of self in descriptive terms (e.g., power,
confidence); an effective element or a degree of positiveness or
negativeness (e.g., high or low self-esteem); an evaluative element related
to some ideal standard (e.g., what a high school graduate should be able to
do) (Mecca, Smelser & Vasconcellos, 1989). According to Secord and
Backman (1964), self-esteem is convenient to think of advantage persons
attitudes toward himself as having three aspectsthe cognitive, the
affective and the behavioral.

Maslows (1971) work in the field of self-esteem was emphasized on

the notion of self-actualization. He assumed that the biological side
determined inner nature of human consists of basic needs, emotions and
capacities that are either neutral or positively good. Human behavior is
motivated primarily by the individuals seeking to fulfill a series of needs.
Each person has basic needs, which are ordered from the most basic to the
highest as follows: physiological needs, safety and security needs, need for
love and belonging, esteem needs and need for self-actualization. Basic
needs of human being are physiological ones that include sleeping, water,
oxygen, proteins, vitamins, sex, hunger etc. Then safety need comes
including security, protection, stability, law and order. After satisfying safety
needs, need for love and belonging direct the person toward affectionate
relations with people and sense of place in family and groups. Before the
ultimate goal of human being that is self-actualization the establishment of
self-esteem is required. According to Maslow (1954), esteem needs are of
two kinds one of them is personal desires for adequacy; mastery,
competence, achievement, confidence, independence and freedom. The
other one is desires for respect from other people including attention,
recognition, appreciation, status, prestige, fame, dominance, importance
and dignity. Satisfaction of esteem needs results in feeling of personal
worth, self-confidence, psychological strength, capability and a sense of
being useful and necessary. But preventing from these needs produces
feelings of inferiority weaknesses and helplessness. At the end, these
feelings cause discouragement, compensation or neurosis.

It may also help us in better understanding self-esteem to

differentiate self-concept from self-esteem. Self-concept is the totality of a
complex, organized and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and
opinions that each person holds to be true about his/her personal existence
(Purkey, 1988). Beane and Lipka (1984) also argued that self-esteem and
self-concept clearly represents two different dimensions. They defined selfconcept as the perception(s) one has about oneself in terms of personal
attributes and the various roles which are played or fulfilled by the
individual. Since self-concept represents only a description of the
perceived self and does not include a value judgment, self-concept should
not be displayed as positive and negative. On the other hand, self-esteem
refers to the evaluation one makes of the self-concept description and,
more specifically, to the degree to which one is successful or unsuccessful
with it, in whole or in part.

Whereas self-concept connotes a relatively broad definition of the

construct that includes cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects, selfesteem is considered to be a more limited evaluative component of the
broader, self-concept term (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1991; Wells & Marwell,
1976).

For Hattie (1992) and others (e.g. Rosenberg, 1965), the key element
differentiating self-concept and self-esteem was the extent to which one
considered the attribute under study to be important. For example, a student
may describe him/herself as not being very good at sports and thereby
6

show evidence of low physical self-concept, however, if the student

considers sports to be little importance, his/her self-esteem will be totally
unaffected. Therefore, Hattie (1992) considered self-esteem to be closely
associated with ones sense of self-worth.

A favorable self-esteem is obviously essential for personal happiness

and effective functioning, through ones life. People who seek psychological
and psychiatric help frequently acknowledge that they suffer from feeling of
inadequacy and unworthiness. They see themselves as helpless and
inferior, incapable of improving their situations and lacking their inner
resources to reduce anxiety aroused by everyday events (Coopersmith,
1967). It can be understood that feeling worthy and respecting oneself could
have a supporting effect on coping strategy with daily life events.

The other variable of the present study was given as stressful life
events. Before defining stressful life events, stress should be defined
clarified. Actually, there is no agreement among researchers about the
definition of stress. Because stress can have a different meaning for every
person dependent on ones life styles, personality and situations that he/she
is in. Therefore, the present study tries to evaluate stressors specific to
university students.

It is defined in the Collins Concise Dictionary and Thesaurus (1999)

as mental, emotional and physical strain or tension. In the biomedical
sciences, stress is mainly understood as an organisms response to adverse
7

stimulation. In psychology, stress is usually understood as the process

where a person and the environment interact (Schwarzer & Schulz, 2001).
In health psychology, joint effects of the person and environment on
pathology are studied, along with mediating and moderating factors, such as
coping and social support (Hobfoll, Schwarzer & Chon, 1998).

It can be defined as the wear and tear that body produce as a result
of any exposure or the non-specific response of the body to any demand
(Selye, 1974). Kagan (1983) defined stress as the physiological state that
prepares the organism for action. It can be stated as a combination of
physical, mental & emotional feelings that results from pressure, worry and
anxiety (Edwards, 2003).

In addition, Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend (1974) share two sets of

concerns about stress. First, they focus mainly on a class of stressful stimuli
or situations to which every one is exposed to a greater or lesser extent in
the natural course of life. These stimuli or situations, which they call life
events, include experiences such as marriage, divorce, birth of a child, and
death of a loved one. The second focus shared by Dohrenwend &
Dohrenwend (1974) is the general hypothesis that stressful life events play
a role in the etiology of various somatic and psychiatric disorders.

There are some theoretical orientations that were associated with the
measurement of stress in adolescents. These can be classified as reflecting

either a stimulus-orientation or a cognitive-orientation (Mullis, Youngs &

George, 1993).

In the stimulus-orientation model, stress is seen as the result of

experiencing any of a number of situations that are threatening or that place
excessive demands on the individual. From this view, stress is defined in
terms of forces-either within the individual or within the environment that
affect the individual. Thus all major life changes are stressful because they
require the social readjustment. The greater the number of events
experienced within a given period of time, the greater the stress
experienced (Johnson, 1986).

In contrast, the cognitiveorientation model explains stressfulness of

environmental events as heavily dependent on as persons perception of
those events (Johnson & McCutcheon, 1980; Swearingen & Cohen, 1985;
Zautra & Reich, 1983). Based on this view, stress may result from
experiencing a variety of pleasant and unpleasant events, including
anniversaries and holidays as well as divorce or death of loved one. For the
present study, daily life events could be thought as unpleasant events that
students perceive as stressful with respect to its frequency.

In addition to documenting the prevalence of specific stressors, the

psychological effects of those stressors need to be examined. Most studies
have examined either stressors or symptomatology without assessing
relations between them. Studies among college students suggest that
9

higher stress level generally related to greater symptomatology, including

anxiety (Sarason, Johnson & Siegel, 1978) depression (Lustman, Sowa &
OHara, 1984), lower levels of general well-being (Cole, 1985) and low selfesteem (Guinn & Vincent, 2002; Abouserie, 1994; Youngs & Rathge, 1990;
Mullis, Youngs & George, 1993; Marcotte et al., 2002). While the literature
was searched, it was found that there isnt such a study in Turkey that
examines the relationship between self-esteem and stressful life events.
Therefore, the present study could be perceived as an initial step of this
subject, which may help to understand university students daily life
anxieties, events or problems and the effect of self-esteem on dealing with
those stressful life events. This focus reflects a concern with the importance
maintaining good self-esteem among youth. Positive self-esteem is a key
factor in developing good mental health, social relations and a productive
lifestyle (Walker & Greene, 1986). If having high self-esteem has a positive
impact on perceiving daily life events as less stressful, it becomes important
concern for parents and counselors who deal or work with adolescents.

Indeed, factors that are both internal and external in adolescent life
contribute to the development of the adolescents sense of self. As it is
known, adolescence is a period of development and it is a transition period
through the adulthood in ones life (Freidrichsen, 1997). During this
transitional period, a new kind of life course may challenge self-image,
especially individuals self-evaluations, as one attempts to new tasks; when
one is successful or not, as one changes his/her self-values and the areas
which are important for self-esteem, as one faces with new significant
10

others against ones rate him/herself and about whose judgments he/she
cares (Simmons, 1987). Consequently, daily life events that were used for
the present study may give a clue about students development of sense of
self. Those stressful life events can be used as guidelines, while studying
with university students and its effect on self-esteem or vice versa.

1.2 The Purpose and the Problem Statements of the Study

The purpose of the study was to examine self-esteem level of

university students. Then self-esteem level of students was analyzed with
respect to gender and academic achievement. Finally, the relationship
between self-esteem level and stressful life events was investigated. The
problem statements of the research can be summarized as follow:

1) What is the self-esteem level of university students?

2) Is there a significant difference between male and female university

students self-esteem level?

3) Is there a significant difference between achievers and non-achievers

university students self-esteem level?

4) Is there any relationship between self-esteem and stressful life events of

university students?

11

1.3 Significance of the Study

The importance of self-esteem can be considered from several

perspectives. First of all, it is important to normal psychological development.
One should believe in selves in terms of capacity to achieve what they need
and want to do. As a result, one could adequately cope with challenges of
growing and daily life. Lacking a belief in selves, one may be productive in an
external sense, but he/she will probably less effective and creative than they
would be if they possessed high self-esteem.

As Garry (1991) states that the effects of self-esteem may also be

seen in career planning and decision-making. For a person to make a
nontraditional career choice, e.g., a female entering engineering, or to go
against family desires or pressures requires someone to have a belief in their
ability to make appropriate plans and decisions. Registering for advanced
placement classes or applying to a highly competitive college may also
challenge the self-esteem of an individual. Most people can attest to having
experienced times when they were on top, when they were at their "peak
performance." These "peaks" in our performance curve illustrate that when
people believe in themselves (have high self-efficacy) and believe they can
accomplish almost anything; they are expressing a self-esteem, which
motivates, excites and empowers them. It is this expression of strong selfesteem at a critical juncture in their lives, which can help a person to become
more of what they are capable of becoming.

12

It has also been suggested, high self-esteem imparts to a person

an immunity to the downturns in the roller coaster of life. As it is known,
rejections, disappointments and failure are a part of daily life. Life is not
always fair or equitable and even our best efforts are not always successful.
But high esteem can assist a person in "weathering the storm," to look
beyond immediate solutions for these difficult situations (Garry, 1991).

Currently, incidence and causes of stress are attracting attention

among researchers and professional organizations. Research findings show
that the adverse effects of stress can cost society with respect to individual
suffering, economic burden of medical expenses, absenteeism and
occupational injuries (Abouserie, 1994).

In summary, many counseling psychologists are employed in college

and university counseling centers. They need to have depth knowledge
about self-esteem level of university students and the kinds of stressful life
events experienced by students. Moreover, the relationship of those
stressors with self-esteem, which could be used as coping strategy in
dealing with stressful life events, should be analyzed to understand their
university students daily life events. Despite this need, there is little
information on specific problems experienced by students. Accurate
information on the kinds of stressors would allow counseling centers to
target specific need areas more effectively (Fitzgerald & Osipow, 1986).

13

1.4 Definition of Terms

Self-Esteem: Confidence in ones capacity to achieve values

(Branden, 1970). It reflects how the individual views and values the self at
the most fundamental levels of psychological experiencing (Bednar &
Peterson, 1995).

Stressful Life Events: Stressful stimuli or situations to which everyone

is exposed to a greater or lesser extent in the natural course of life
(Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974).

14

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In this chapter, firstly self / self-esteem theories was displayed.

Beginning from the origins of self-studies, self-esteem was discussed later
with

respect

to

different

theories.

Secondly, stressful life

events

theories/background and histories were given. As a third part, the related

studies to the present study were presented.

2.1 Self / Self-Esteem Theories

Theoretical work in the area of self-esteem began a century ago with

seminal works by James (1892) and Cooley (1902), whose theories
continue to guide and influence present work on the subject. James (1892)
contended that self-esteem was based on ones perceived competency in
valued domains, whereas Cooley (1902) focused on the importance of
social acceptance and the reflected appraisals of others.

15

For James (1890), who is the father of American psychology and

credited with the initial formal study of self-esteem, the self is part of me
that is ones body, abilities, reputation, strengths and weaknesses, and
possessions. If any of those components is diminished or enhanced, people
can react as they were diminished or enhanced because they have indeed
defined the part as the self. Therefore, each person emphasis on what
James called self-feeling or self-love on the successes and failures what
has been chosen as being the most true self. All the other possible selves
not chosen become irrelevant to the ones self-esteem. Whatever one
choose to identify as a goal for oneself a reputation by which one would
like to be known or an attribute that one would like to have- become one of
ones pretensions. The degree determines ones self-esteem in that
particular sphere of experience.

According to James (1890) three major elements of the self from

which pretensions are chosen: the material self, the social self and the
spiritual self. The material self refers to objects and pretensions that are
considered as ones personal property or ones identification: body, clothes,
family, home, car etc. If the material realm prospers, the individual feels
enlarged on the contrary, if ones possessions are damaged or lost, the
person feels smaller.

The social self is connected with a persons reputation or share of

recognition. Person may have many social selves being son or daughter
to parents, being students in school, or friend of someone and so forth. The
16

individuals pretensions or goals will depend on age and personality. For

preschool children, recognition from parents will be dominant while for
adolescents, peers affirmation will be weighted heavily.

Finally, the spiritual self is the inner or subjective being of individual.

Ones recognition is related to what he/she thinks about things and those
thoughts have continuity over time. It may be defined as the innermost
center of ones being. James (1890) referred the self as two elements: the
portion that is me, the actor, the doer or the performer of the self; and the I,
which is the seat of consciousness, the observer and the evaluator of the
me. As the observer, the spiritual self is not exposed to the
successes/pretensions parallel to self-esteem. Indeed, the spiritual self is
the interpreter of any experiences that is it is the determiner of sense of selfesteem.

According to Bednar and Peterson (1995), James recognized that

self-esteem in terms of a general and a specific aspect. Although there are
some individual fluctuations caused by daily encounters, there is an average
expression of self-esteem that one develops over time. If a person has
succeeded consistently over a period or has experienced repeated failures,
the general level of self-trust or distrust may shift.

Cooleys conceptualization from more sociological perspective than

James, about self in which function to unify and stimulate behavior, was an
innate or instinctual. It was motivated toward self-appreciation and
17

promoting survival (Wells & Marwell, 1976). To Cooley (1902), the self has
several aspects and the most dominant one is social self. This social self
arises from the ones observations of how others react to the self. That is,
people learn to identify themselves by the perceptions of others, termed as
the looking-glass self.

The social self is a way of defining and refining the sense of self.
There are three basic elements while gathering positive and negative
feedback from the others mind (Cooley, 1902). First one is the imagination
of our appearance to the other person (How do I appear to other person?),
second one is his/her imagination of his/her judgment of that appearance
(What does other person think about me?) and thirdly, some sort of selffeeling (How do I feel toward myself as a result of encountering?)

In terms of self-feeling, Cooley wrote A formal definition of selffeeling must be as hollow as a formal definition of the taste of salt, or the
color red; we can know what it is only by experiencing it. There can be no
final test of self except the way we feel; it is that toward which we have the
my attitude (1902, p.40). According to Fisher (1996), Cooleys ideas reflect
a binary focus on self-esteem as attitudinal and phenomenological

For Cooley (1902) the self and self-feeling was not entirely a social
process especially for the adult. He highlighted the importance of balancing
individuals way of thinking about the self and reactions of others. Therefore,

18

people can evaluate themselves more positively and they can be more selfconfident during the interactions with others.

As a sociologist, to Mead (1934), the development of self is related to

the process of ones becoming an integrated part of a social group. He
concerned on the description of appropriate socialization, not self-esteem
and focused on consciousness through differentiating conscious and
preconscious behaviors (Wells & Marwell, 1976).

Cooleys concept of the looking-glass self is extended in Meads

work. According to Mead (1934), language and society are essential
elements in the development of self. Because, individuals would have a
chance to see themselves in which others see them by interaction with
others. Therefore, significant others in ones life have a determining
influence on self-esteem. The socialization process was described as
learning values about all other aspects of the world that give information
about how others see themselves. Observation of actions and attitudes of
significant others can help individual to adopt them and internalize them as
ones own (Bednar & Peterson, 1995).

These early theorists struggled with the question of What is the

self? Studies were made to explain its importance in existence, its level of
consciousness, its location in individual and social processes and its
development. Within each perspective, each theorist described some self-

19

evaluative subtopics that are fundamental of theory and research about selfesteem.

With regard to psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspectives, Freud

and others like Adler, Sullivan and Horney who were influenced by Freud
and psychoanalysis have discussed concepts relevant to psychodynamic
perspectives on self-esteem. What is common to all psychodynamic
perspectives including unconscious, preconscious and conscious processes
within the self, beginning with Freud (Fisher, 1996).

Freuds psychoanalytic theory contributed to the widespread concern

with the self. Although Freud never used the term self or self-esteem
directly, the concept of ego in Freudian theory had much in common with
the notion of self as viewed by a number of other theorists. In
psychoanalytic theory, conscious awareness was largely considered under
the concept of ego. Therefore, the defense mechanism, the relationship of
consciousness to the external world and the inculcation of moral values all
of them are figured in Freudian theory became topics of interest for the
self-theorist (Gergen, 1971).

Although Adler did not discuss self-esteem directly like Freud, he

explained a universal tendency toward an inferiority feeling apparently
innate. Finally he found that major goal of the individual was a striving for
superiority (Wells & Marwell, 1976). He believed that each person has a
unique view of reality through the creative self. This creative self tries to
20

make sense of life and to plan for achieving goal of completeness and
perfection. The motivation of this creative self was named as striving for
superiority. In other words, the creative self lives within a style of life or a
way of interpreting reality consistent with ones life goals chosen early in life.
Each of us is engaged in striving for superiority toward a goal of
completeness or perfection (Bednar, & Peterson, 1995).

The positive responds of significant others, with acceptance and

encouragement, or negative responds of significant others including excess,
either support or undermine the development of self-esteem in the child. To
Adler, development of the ones social interest or involvement in society
allows a person to achieve self-acceptance (Coopersmith, 1967).

As mentioned above, Adler (1964) did not emphasized on the

concept of self-esteem. Indeed, he considered self-esteem as a source of
neurosis to the degree that it became a self-absorbing goal. Probably, a
more appropriate Adlerian term for self-esteem would be self-acceptance.
Therefore, appropriate self-esteem requires a ones acceptance of the right
for belonging to humanity and willingness to contribute to the social interest
of group (Bednar & Peterson, 1995).

Sullivan (1953) considered self-process with respect to social

psychology as an unusual dimension of psychoanalytic perspective. He
described the self interpersonally and emphasized the function of
symbolization in its development.
21

Sullivan termed his view of self a self-system as a dynamic ...vast

organization of experience which is considered with protecting our selfesteem... (1953; p. 247). Sullivan found the origins of self-system in
childhood. According to Sullivan (1953) the self-system organizes ones
experiences into good me, bad me and not me that are self-evaluations
based on parental or significant others reactions to the child and the child
attempts to minimize anxiety caused by those reactions.

Horney (1942), as a psychodynamic theorist, conceptualized selfrealization as an innate drive that stems from the childs position of
helplessness in a potentially hostile world. This innate drive results in what
Horney called basic anxiety and need for security (Wells and Marwell,
1976). The quality of relationship between the parent and the child
determine the existence of this extent. For child, there can be so many
disturbing influences such as, parental egocentricity, indifference, lack of
respect, disparagement, lack of admiration, lack of warmth, isolation,
discrimination etc. (Coopersmith, 1981).

According to Horney (1942), an individual wish to value to oneself

and to be valued by others that led to either self-esteem or self-alienation.
She differentiated between idealized, potential and actual states of self. The
persons inherent potentialities were named the real self, while actual
qualities were termed the actual self. The self ideal guides to persons
actions. On the other hand, the idealized self is defined based on
neurotically idealized image of ones capacities and goals that is considered
22

as a method of dealing with anxiety. This relationship is discussed by

Horney between this form of false self-esteem and neurosis.

Social-psychological perspectives come from the areas of social

psychology within both psychology and sociology. One of the primary
theorists or researchers in self-esteem is the sociologist Rosenberg, who
emphasized especially on the dynamics of the development of positive selfimage during adolescence. He searched for examining the development of
self-evaluative behavior within the social environment of the family and the
relation of self-esteem to subsequent social behaviors (Wells and Marwell,
1976).

Rosenberg is well-known researcher with studies of adolescence in

American Public schools (1965), standards measures of self-esteem such
as, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, which is used for measuring selfesteem level in this study, the Rosenberg-Simmons Self-Esteem Scale, and
others. He also constructed a theory of self-concept and self-esteem (1979).

Rosenberg (1979) considered self-concept in two ways-as a

motivational system and structurally and self-esteem is core to each
conceptualization. Rosenberg viewed the self as being maintained and
enhanced by the two very similar motives - self-esteem and selfconsistency. According to him, self-concept is the individuals fundamental
frame of reference that includes almost all actions that are predicated. The
self-esteem, which is one of the most powerful motives in the human
23

development, was defined as a positive or negative attitude toward a

particular object, namely the self. Positive self-esteem is characterized by
feelings of self-respect and worthiness. Moreover, the individual recognizes
his/her strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, the person with low
self-esteem feels lack of respect for him / herself and seeks him/herself as
unworthy and inadequate or deficient person.

Self-concept was defined as the totality of an individuals thoughts

and feelings having reference to him/herself as an object with respect to
structural

dimension

(Rosenberg,

1979,

p.7).

Within

self-concept,

Rosenberg (1979) identified three broad regions: (1) the extant self-concept
(what are we like) (2) the desired self-concept (what we wish to be like), and
(3) the presenting self (how we show ourselves to others)

His motivational system was described in terms of three objectives.

First one is means and ends, which include desiring to achieve a particular
goal or attempting to win social approval. As a second objective, selfconsistency and self-esteem was considered. Confirmations of the selfpicture, testing self-hypotheses are the goals of the presenting self. Thirdly,
conformity to norms that means presenting oneself in certain culturally
proscribed ways can provide approval of society.

Coopersmith is researcher/theorist in the area of self-esteem under

the scope of learning perspectives. He studied in the 1950s and 1960s with
pre-high school, white, middle class, male students under the name of
24

antecedents, correlates and consequents of self-esteem. According to

Coopersmith (1967), self-esteem is significantly associated with personal
satisfaction and effective functioning.

The self is defined as an abstraction that the individual develops

about the attributes, capacities, objects and activities one possesses and
pursues. The abstraction is symbolized by me that is ones idea of/to
him/herself. The object of the observation and appraisal, which is called as
the person, differs from the self, which includes the abstractions formed
about the object. The fundamentals of these abstractions would be the
ones observations of his/her own behavior and the way other individuals
respond to him/her attitudes, appearance and performance (Coopersmith,
1967).

Coopersmiths

(1967)

multidimensional

model

of

self-esteem

represents an integration and expansion of the theoretical work of James

(1892) and Cooley (1902). According to Coopersmith (1967), self-esteem
consists of the evaluation that individual makes and maintains with regard to
himself. That means it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval and
indicates the extent to which an individual believes himself to be capable,
significant, and worthy. In summary, self-esteem is considered as personal
judgment of worthiness expressed by the attitudes of one holds toward
him/herself (Coopersmith, 1967).

25

In determining an individuals self-esteem, Coopersmith (1967)

defined four critical factors: first one is the amount of respectful, accepting
and concerned treatment individual receives from significant others in his
life; second one is the history of an individuals success and the status that
he/she holds in the community; thirdly, the way experiences are interpreted
and modified in the frame of individuals values and aspirations; and finally,
the manner in which the individual responds to evaluation.

Under the cognitive-behavioral perspectives, there are two theorists Bandura and Epstein- that are presented for the combined perspective with
regard to conceptualization of the self and self-esteem. While for the
cognitive perspective, the acts and processes of knowing are the entire
personality, for the behavioral perspective personality is an accumulation of
learned responses to stimuli, sets of overt behavior or habit systems
(Schultz & Schultz, 1994).

Banduras (1982) opinion about the self is not something that

determines or causes behavior. On the contrary, it is cognitive processes
and structures related with thought and perception. He discussed selfreinforcement and self-efficacy as the aspects of self. Self-reinforcement is
defined as ones standards for behavior or criteria using for evaluating of
ones own behavior. Based on perception of results of ones performance;
ones self-evaluation will increase, if one is successful. Conversely, if an
individual is not successful, his/her self-evaluations will decrease. Bandura

26

(1982) attributes development of this capacity to be learned from the

behavior of important models.

Self-efficacy, which is the closest term to self-esteem, is discussed

as next step. Self-efficacy is defined as ones assessments of how well one
meet internal standards. That is ones feelings of adequacy, efficiency and
competence in coping with life. According to him, there are four sources of
information to judge ones self-efficacy; performance attainment (proven
past successful experience); vicarious experiences (seeing others doing
successfully); verbal persuasion (encouraging someone that he/she can
succeed within reasonable limits); physiological arousal (the extent of
calmness that the person feels). Self-efficacy develops through the
interaction

of

responsiveness,

some
peer

developmental

experiences

responsiveness,

teacher

such

as

parental

responsiveness,

etc.

Adolescents and adults continue to gain perceptions of self-efficacy through

successes (Schultz & Schultz, 1994).

Epsteins (1980) approach is called as information processing, or

cognitive-experiential. Major assumption of his theory is that human mind
has a tendency to organize experience into conceptual systems. In other
words, human minds make connections between events and later they
develop an organized system of higher/lower order constructs. These
constructs is both differentiated and integrated (Epstein, 1980). According to
Epstein (1985), self-esteem is as being a basic human need to be love

27

worthy. Mruk (1995) emphasizes that Epstein viewed self-esteem as a

need and thus as motivational.

Epstein defines three interacting levels of self-esteem. The first level

is global; the second one is the degree of self-esteem at any time in one of
eight areas (competence, likeability, lovability, self-control, personal power,
moral approval, bodily appearance, and bodily functioning); and the last one
is visible self-esteem that is considered situation-specific (OBrien &
Epstein, 1983).

In humanistic perspective, the researchers -Allport, Maslow, Rogers,

May, and Mruk- who have humanistic, existential and phenomenological
perspectives are considered together (Fisher, 1996).

To Wells and Marwell (1976), Allport was one the first psychologists
to turn away from behaviorism toward a psychology of the ego. He devised
his own term the proprium- that serves an organizing and integrating role
and provides an incentive to psychological growth. The proprium functions
are sense of body, self-identity, self-esteem, self-extension, self-image and
appropriate striving (Schultz and Schultz, 1994).

According to Allport (1961), there are seven categories of the

proprium. At ages 1-3, the child perceives him/herself as existing and
distinct from the others. Also, childs ability helps to recognize him/her
accomplishments and experiences of self-esteem at around ages 4-6, the
28

child recognizes the objects and people that make up his/her own world.
Moreover, the child develops both real and ideal self-images and
emphasizes on satisfying or not satisfying parental expectations. Between
ages of 6 and 12, the child is able to apply reason and logic to the solution
of problems. Adolescence is the period that Allport (1961) refers as
appropriate striving, in which he/she begins to formulate long-term goals for
his/her life. Adulthood is another period that one can function independent
of childhood motives. Rationality and consciousness are the hallmarks of his
categorization.

Maslow is probably best known with his hierarchy of needs. These

needs began with physiological needs of hunger and thirst, proceed to
safety needs, then to the need for love, to the need for esteem and finally to
the need for self-actualization (Maslow, 1939). According to Maslow (1939),
all people have a need for desiring for a stable high evaluation of
him/herself for self-respect or self-esteem and the esteem of others. He
categorized these human needs into two parts. First one is to desire for
strength, for success, for adequacy, for confidence in the society that one
live in, independence and freedom. Second one is desire for recognition,
attention, significance and appreciation. For him, the significance of these
esteem were central for ones psychological well-being. Their lack can lead
to discouragement and psychopathology (Maslow, 1939).

Rogers was a phenomenologist focused on that each one lives in a

private and unique world with ones own perceptions and responds to the
29

world through ones own personal awareness (Bednar & Peterson, 1995).
According to Rogers (1951), the growth of self can be described as
expanding of distinction between private world or me and that which is not
me. Experiences are classified positively and negatively. Therefore, the self
is an interaction between the direct experience of the self and the distorted
introjects from the environment. Rogers viewed the condition of self in
terms of self-acceptance and the minimization of conflict as crucial for the
individual s emotional well-being (Coopersmith, 1967).

For May (1983), self is included in being that May defined as ones
patterns of potentialities, ones sense of ones totality as a separate and
unique person. According to him, the sense of being gives the person a
basis for self-esteem that is not completely the reflection of others about
him/her. To May (1983), to block ones self-awareness and adjustment to it,
can lead to neurosis. Moreover, repression, anxiety and guilt can be linked
to low self-esteem.

Another phenomenological theorist is Mruk (1995) who defines selfesteem as the lived status of ones individual competence and worthiness
at dealing with challenges of life. Mruk (1995) stated that self-esteem
relates to something that is alive in our behavior. That is, one lives selfesteem just like culture, history, or identity. Ones self-esteem is lived
concretely. It is embodied to ones perceptions of here and now,
experienced in the mode of feeling and expressed through words and
actions.
30

2.2 Stressful Life Events Theories/Background

Stress is a common metaphor in everyday life and part and parcel of

the human condition (Powell & Enright, 1990, p.1). Although everyone is
familiar with this term, the definition of stress remains unfulfilled. The
difficulty of this definition mostly comes from the fact that stress may have
variety of meaning for each person (Rosch, 1989). Selye (1956) originally
defined the stress as a nonspecific adaptation process to any demand for
change. McNamara (2000) defined as the internal state of the individual, an
external event or the interaction between a person and his/her environment.

Basically three broad perspectives can be chosen when studying

stress (a) the response-based perspective, (b) the stimulus-based
perspective and (c) the cognitive-transactional process perspective in order
to better understanding of the role of stressful life events (Schwarzer &
Schulz, 2001).

The focus is on the way ones organism reacts in response-based

perspective. Selye (1956) has distinguished between a stressor (the
stimulus) and the stress (the response). The response to a stimulus follows
the same typical three-stage pattern called the general adaptation syndrome
(GAS). These three stages are, alarm, resistance and adaptation or
exhaustion categorized under the GAS.
31

The body initially defends itself against adverse circumstances by

activating the sympathetic nervous system that has been called alarm
reaction. It mobilizes the body for the fight or flight response, which can be
seen as an adaptive, short-term reaction to emergency situation. However,
stress is often a longer encounter, and the organism moves on to the
resistance stage, in which it adapts more or less successfully to the
stressor. Although the person does not make the impression of being under
stress, the organism does not function well and becomes ill. According to
Selye, the immune system is compromised, and some typical diseases of
adaptation develop under persistent stress. Finally, in the exhaustion stage,
the organisms adaptation resources are decreased, and breakdown occurs.

The stimulus-based perspective basically focused on particular

characteristics of the stressor. It is argued that each correspondence has its
unique demands, physical, social, role or tasks that specifically tax the
individuals coping resources. Hence, every correspondence activates a
particular stress response (Schwarzer & Schulz, 2001).

The cognitive-transactional perspective theory (Lazarus; 1966)

defines stress as a particular relationship between the person and the
environment that is evaluated by the person as being charging or exceeding
his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being. There are some
meta-theoretical assumptions in the theory: transaction, process and
context. It is assumed that (a) stress occurs as a specific encounter of the
32

person with the environment, both of them exerting a reciprocal influence on

each other, (b) stress is the subject to continuous change and, (c) the
meaning of a particular transaction is derived from the underlying context.

Lazarus (1991) conceives stress as an active, unfolding process that

is composed of casual antecedents, mediating processes, and effects.
Antecedents are person variables, such as commitments and beliefs, and
environmental variables, such as demands or situational constraints.
Mediating processes refer to coping and appraisals of demands and
resources. Experiencing stress and coping bring about both immediate
effects, such as affect or physiological changes, and long-term effects
concerning psychological well-being, somatic health and social functioning
(see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Process Model of the Stress/Health Relationship, based on

theTransactional Stress Theory by Lazarus (1991).

Life Events
Impact
Duration
Predictability
Controllability

Appraisal
Challenge
Threat
Harm or loss

Coping

Resources
Personal
Social
Material

Social Support

33

Health
Consequences

Cognitive appraisals comprise two component processes, namely

primarily (demand) appraisals and secondary (resource) appraisals.
Appraisal outcomes are divided into the categories challenge, threat and
harm/loss. Firstly, demand appraisal refers to the stakes a person has in a
stressful encounter. A situation is appraised as challenging when it
mobilizes physical and mental activity and involvement. In the evaluation of
challenge, a person may see an opportunity to prove her/himself,
anticipating gain, or personal growth from the venture. The situation is
experienced as pleasant, exciting and interesting and the person feels
ardent and confident in being able to meet the demands. Threat occurs
when the individual perceives danger, expecting physical injuries or blows
ones self-esteem. In the experience of harm/loss, damage has already
occurred. This can be the injury or loss of valued persons, important
objects, self-worth, or social standing.
Secondly, resource appraisals refer to ones available coping options
for dealing with the demands at hand. The individual evaluates his/her
competence, social support, and material or other resources that can help to
readapt to the circumstances and to re-establish equilibrium between
person and environment (Lazarus, 1991).
The study of life events has its roots in the pioneering work of
Holmes and Rahe (1967) and their development of the Social Readjustment
Rating Scale (SRRS). The scale allowed for the analysis of the correlation
of major life events with physical and/or psychological disorder. It also
served as the foundation and impetus for countless scales and following
34

studies. The measure yielded estimates of the average degree of

readjustment/life change subjects associated with the 43 major life events.

Following the work of Holmes and Rahe (1967), Brown, Harris and
Copeland (1977) posited that stressful events might act on a continuum.
That is, it ranges from activating events through the presence of multiple
moderating variables may significantly effect the event-illness relationship.
Although there is continued debate about the definition and measurement of
life events and related variables, it is generally accepted that stressful life
events play a significant and casual role in the etiology of psychical and
psychological disorder across the life span (Meehan, 1999). There are also
discussions on the existence, nature, and the strength of a connection
between negative life events and illness began with the work of Andrews
and Tenant (1978). They concluded that a life event-illness link accounted
for as little as ten percent of the variance in the studies of illness etiology.
On the other hand, Cooke and Hole (1983) said that that explained variance
was an inadequate measure of the casual link between events and illness.
They insisted that attributable risk was a more accurate indicator of the
casual role of life events. Cooke and Hole (1983) calculated that
approximately 32 percent of psychiatric cases were attributable to stressful
life events.

Since the development of the SRRS, only negative life events show a
relationship with psychical and psychological disorder (Meehan, 1999). As a
result, the study of life events has taken on a decidedly negative life event
35

bias (Kanner, Feldman, Weinberger & Ford, 1987; Swearington & Cohen,
1985; Thoits, 1983). This led to a situation that while considering life events,
researchers have focused on the nature of events called as negative,
undesirable or distressing. There are relatively small numbers of studies,
which contain both positive and negative events, effects have been
combined or positive events have been assessed only with respect to illness
or possible buffers of negative events (Cohen, Mcgowan, Fooskas & Rose,
1984; Compas, Wagner, Slavin & Vannatta, 1986; Miller, Wilcox & Soper,
1985).

According to Meehan (1999), it is a general rule that a link between

life events and health has been examined with respect to negative events
and their relationship to physical and psychological symptoms. Because
physical and psychological symptoms are the ones that represent an
incomplete picture of health and well-being, at best.

There are some studies exceptions to the above rule. Murrell and
Norris (1983; 1984), in which positive life events were associated with
increased positive affect in older adults. Likewise, in the study of Weir &
Okun (1988) it is found that positive events enhanced students satisfaction
with college. Studying college students, Suh et al., (1996) found that
positive events were associated with increased life satisfaction and positive
affect whereas negative events correlated only with life satisfaction and
negative affect. Similarly, Seidlitz, Wyer and Diener (1997) found that happy
college students differed from unhappy ones in terms of nature of their
36

reactions to positive events. Finally, in a longitudinal study, Stallings and his

colleagues (1997) found that positive events predicted subsequent positive
affect; on the other hand, negative events predicted only negative affect.

Above findings are consistent with the work of Zautra and Reich
(1983) who concluded that research supports the existence of a relationship
between negative life events and subjective distress, and between positive
life events and measures of well-being. They stated that two separate
systems of people for experiencing and responding to affective life
experiences matches with negative events and their impacts.

Jackson (1982) investigated the relationship between life change

events and health among 1207 high school students from Grade 10, 11 and
12. She also examined the relationship of gender, grade level, grade point
average and the number of days absent from the school to the life event
change. Results indicated that students with the lowest grade point
averages were more likely to report death of relative, illness and
involvement with drugs and alcohol, being arrested and quitting school.

2.3 Studies about Self-Esteem and Stressful Life Events

Understanding self-esteem is basic to understand adolescents

behavior. It is essential to know how adolescents perceive, value and regard
the self to interpret their behavior. A classic work by Coopersmith (1967)
proposed that the level of self-esteem affects all aspects of a persons life.
37

Roy (1984) says that self-esteem profoundly affects the ability to adapt
changes in ones life.

Among adolescents, it is found that there were direct paths to global

self-esteem from adolescents specific self-perceptions and mothers
positive communication (Killen & Forehand, 1998). In the study of Arbona
and Power (2003), they examined the relation of mother and father
attachment to self-esteem among African American, European American,
and Mexican American high school students. Findings indicated that
adolescents from 3 ethnic/racial groups did not differ greatly in their reported
attachment to father and mother.

In the study of Verkuyten (2001), the relationship between ethnic

minority identity and global self-esteem was examined among Turks and
Dutch and it was found that Turks was family integrity positively related to
ethnic and global self-esteem. Among both ethnic group boys had a more
positive global and ethnic self-esteem than girls.

Increased attention has been given to parent education programs.

One such program is Self Esteem: A Family Affair Program with families
that had adolescent children aged 11-19 (Bredefort & Hey, 1995). Families
were randomly assigned to treatment and control group. Each family was
measured self-esteem, family adaptability, family cohesion, and family
conflict. The results showed that treatment families scored significantly
differently from control groups.
38

The study of Rosenberg and Pearlin (1978) assessment of social

class and self-esteem among children and adults found virtually no
association between social class of parents and self-esteem among
younger children, a modest association among adolescents and advantage
moderate association among adults based on their own social class.

Several

studies

indicate

that

sex

differences

exist

among

adolescents self-reports of life events (Groer, Thomas & Shoffner, 1992;

Tubman & Windle, 1995; Windle & Windle, 1996). More specifically, girls
tend to report significantly more negative life events than boys across all
ages of adolescence as well as higher levels of stress. Consistent with this
finding, Plunkett, Radmacher & Moll-Phanara (2000) studied among 207
high school students and they found that adolescent girls reported more life
events, higher levels of stress due to the life events, and more use of coping
strategies than boys.

Block and Robins (1993) discovered gender differences in selfesteem. They found that self-esteem was interpersonally oriented for
adolescent girls, while for boys self-esteem was person-oriented. Thus,
while self-esteem was related to the masculine trait of unique superiority for
boys, high self-esteem was related to interconnectedness with others for
adolescent girls (Joseph, Marcus & Tafarodi, 1992).

39

Results from a meta-analysis conducted by Kling et al., (1999)

strongly supports the claim that males have higher self-esteem than
females. Two analyses were conducted to examine gender differences. In
Analysis I, a computerized literature search, representing 97, 217
respondents yielded 216 effects sizes the overall effect size was 0.21,
which indicated a small difference favoring males. In Analysis II, gender
differences were examined using data sets from National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES). All of the NCES effect sizes, representing
48,000 young Americans, indicated higher self-esteem for males.

Study among adolescents from ninth, tenth and twelfth grades

investigated gender differences in global self-esteem and eight domains of
self-esteem. The study showed that boys achieved higher global selfesteem scores than girls did. In addition, boys scored significantly higher
than girls in six domains of self-esteem (personal security, home/parents,
attractiveness/physical

appearance,

reactivity/permeability,

and

athletics)

personal
while

mastery,
remaining

psychological
two

domains

(perception of peer popularity, academics) exhibited no significant

differences between male and female (Quatman & Watson, 2001)

According to survey results of American Association of University

Women (1991) on American girls and boys in grades 4 through 10; girls
self-esteem dropped significantly as they made transition from elementary
to middle school whereas, boys self-esteem did not drop as much. During
high school, adolescent girls were less confident of their math and science
40

abilities, and also less interested in these courses. Moreover, they

expressed lower career expectations than that of boys.

According to Sadker and Sadker (1994), the loss of self-esteem for

adolescent females is directly connected to their academic achievement and
career goals. This finding is corrected by Peterson, Kauchack and Yakoobi
(1980) that gender differences in student self-concept toward science
learning were related to their actual success in science courses. They also
found that female students possessed greater feelings of inadequacy for
achievement than did their male classmates. On the other hand, it was
found that there are no significant differences in academic self-esteem
between adolescence boys and girls (Sommers, 1994; Skaalvik, 1990).

In the longitudinal study of Chubb, Fertman and Ross (1997), it was

examined that whether self-esteem and locus of control change during high
school years with respect to gender and grade. They found that no
significant change in the level of self-esteem during four years of high
school. There was a significant main effect for gender but not for grade.
Throughout high school, male self-esteem was found consistently higher
than female self-esteem; that is, there is significant difference in self-esteem
scores for males and females. Consistent with this finding, Smith (2002)
investigated the effect on self-esteem and gender differences. No significant
difference was found concerning gender or the interaction of age and
gender.

41

There are several contradictions in the studies of gender differences

that females view themselves less positively (Richman et al., 1985; Brack,
Orr & Ingersoll, 1988; Rosenberg & Simmons, 1975) and more positively
than do males (Thornberg & Jones, 1982; Whiteside, 1976). In
comprehensive review of literature (Wylie, 1979; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974
Bohan, 1973; Overholser et al., 1995), no gender difference in self-esteem
was reported.

In the study of Gngr (1989) among 9th and 11th graders, no

significant difference was found between boys and girls with respect selfesteem level. Several studies made in Turkey showed similar results about
gender differences in level of self-esteem (Gray, 1989; Durmu, 1994;
zkan, 1994; Duru, 1995; Gr, 1996). On the other hand, uhadarolu
(1985) investigated self-esteem in adolescence between 15 -18 and found
the decrease of self-esteem was more significant in girls. zolu (1988)
also reported that boys had significantly higher self-esteem than girls did.

The perception of academic success is a significant predictor of selfesteem in adolescent students (Kearney-Cooke, 1999). Gilligan (1982) and
hypothesize that adolescent females low assessment of their own
competence may lie within the social environment, which applauds
achievement and success in males but may react with ambivalence or
negativity to female success.

42

Hattie (1992) obtained an average correlation of 0.34 in the

relationship between self-esteem and academic results (operationalised as
a persons overall average marks). That is, the relationship between self
esteem and academic results is weak one then 1 year later the revised
UCLA Loneliness Scale. The results showed that the lower the participants
self-esteem, the more feelings of loneliness they reported 1 year later.

According to the study of Clemes and Bean (1981), children with high
self-esteem are more positive, responsible, tolerable to frustration and able
to influence their environment. On the other hand, children with low selfesteem can be easily manipulated by others, frustrated quickly, often blame
others for their weaknesses, and they tend to avoid difficult situations.

Bloom (1977) found that achievement and self-esteem were

generally related. In the study of Wiggins (1987), self-esteem scores were
found to be the only significant factor that is correlated with earned grades
for 483 students.

Wiggins and Schatz (1994) examined the relationship between selfesteem and earned grades, achievement test scores and other factors.
They found that the most significant positive correlation was between selfesteem score and grade point average. This result was very similar to the
study of Kimball (1972), Spatz and Johnston (1971) and Trowbridge (1972).

43

Rosenberg, Schooler and Schoenbach (1989) studied among selfesteem and academic achievement and their studies showed that there is a
positive, significant relation between two variables. Although higher
correlation was found between academic self-concept and grades than
between global self-esteem and grades, the degree of relation between
global self-esteem and grades is still significant (Rosenberg et al., 1995).
Moreover, Liu, Kaplan and Risser (1992) concluded that bi-directional
relations between self-esteem and academic achievement displaying
reciprocal relation of two factor in a positive direction.

Alves-Martins et al. (2002) analyzed the relationship between selfesteem and academic achievement among secondary-school students.
Their results showed that there are significant differences in self-esteem
between the successful and unsuccessful students. In seventh grades; such
differences disappear in the eight and ninth grades.

Path-analytic models including measures of self-concept, attributions

and grades of 198 Filipino high school students were examined in the study
of Watkins and Gutierrez (1990). Attributions for successful outcomes to
ability or effort were found to be mediating the casual relationship between
achievement and self-esteem within specific areas of academic content.

In the study of Demo and Parker (2001), the relationship between

students grade point average and self-esteem were examined among 298
black and white college students. Self-esteem scores of blacks and whites
44

were not significantly different. No association was found between academic

achievement and overall self-esteem for either racial group.

There are few studies examining the relation between gender, selfesteem and educational attainment. According to several studies on
adolescent boys found that grades have a positive effect on self-esteem, but
high self-esteem does not result in better grades (Rosenberg, et al., 1995;
Rosenberg, Schooler & Schoenbach, 1989). In addition, Bachman and
OMalley (1980) indicate that the positive association between boys selfesteem and educational attainment is caused by differences in family
background, academic ability and grades.

In the study of Chapman and Mullis (1999), relations between

adolescent coping strategies and self-esteem were analyzed. The results
showed that adolescents with lower self-esteem utilized more avoidance
coping strategies than adolescents with higher self-esteem. Moreover,
males reported utilizing avoidance coping strategies more frequently than
females; females were found to utilize social and spiritual supports more
frequently than males.

The literature about stressful life events and self-esteem revealed a

significant relationship. The study in which 675 second-year undergraduate
students were included, showed a significant negative correlation between
self-esteem both academic and life stress emerged indicating that students

45

with high self-esteem are less stressed than those are low (Abouserie,
1994).

A total of 2154 North Dakota high school students between the ages
14 and 19 participated by completing the Life Experiences Survey and the
Self-Esteem Inventory. The findings indicated that as the number of life
events increased, the level of self-esteem decreased (Youngs & Rathge,
1990).

Over 1740 rural high school students from Grades 9 through 12,
average overall stress was the best predictor of self-esteem (Mullis, Youngs
& George, 1993).

With 547 French-speaking adolescents between ages 11 to 18 years,

the results support the view that body image, self-esteem and negative
stressful life events mediate the relationship between gender and
depressive symptoms during adolescence (Marcotte et al., 2002).

Among a 472 Mexican American adolescents aged 14 to 16 years, it

was found that relatively high perceived stress, low acculturation, moderate
self-esteem with no significant gender differences. Analysis revealed selfesteem as most predictive of a core effective overall coping resources.
Results suggest Mexican American adolescents possessing high selfesteem are less likely to encounter damage to their sense of self when

46

confronted with stressors, thus allowing for productive coping (Guinn &
Vincent, 2002).

Heins et al. (1984) point out that student with intense anxiety is
caused by two kinds of stress, that correlated with academic expectations
and performance and that related to social factors (e.g. developing and
maintaining interpersonal relationships).

In the study of Stein (1991), the relationship among self-esteem, life

events and powerlessness was explored with respect to gender. Findings
revealed that feelings of powerlessness and an increased incidence of
significant life events predicted low self-esteem.

47

CHAPTER III

METHOD

In this chapter, methodological procedures of this study are

presented. The main topics are the overall design of the study, the
participants of the study, the instruments, the procedure, the data analysis
and the limitations of the study.

3.1 The Overall Design of the Study

The present study is about self-esteem and stressful life events of
university students. In order to obtain theories and past researches related
with the present study topic, journals, books and internet resources was
searched. It was a quantitative research including survey. There are two
questionnaries and a four quesitoned-demographic information form to
collect data about participants. The selection of participants of this study
was made clustered-randomly. 341 students was participated the study
voluntarily and it was made at METU in the second semester of 2002-2003
academic year. Independent t-test and Pearson Product Moment
Correlation was used for data analysis.
48

3.2 The Participants of the Study

The population of the present study included Middle East Technical

University (METU) students who took English course from the Department
of Modern Languages. The researcher contacted with the instructors in the
Department of Modern Languages and explained the purpose of this study.
Students who were taking Eng 102, Eng 211 and Eng 311 courses
participated the study. They were volunteered to participate the study.

The population was approximately 3500. The sample of the study

included 341 undergraduate students. One hundred twenty four of the
participants (36%) were female and two hundred seventeen participants
(64%) were male. Seventy three (21.4%) of the participants were nonachiever, while two hundred forty five (71.8) of them were achiever. One
hundred eighty four of the participants (54%) were first, seventy nine of
them (23%) were second, forty three of them (13%) were third and finally
thirty five of them (10%) were senior class students. One hundred fifty six of
the participants (46%) were from the Faculty of Engineering, one hundred
twenty two of them (36%) were from the Faculty of Art and Science, thirtythree of them (10%) were from the Faculty of Education, twenty two of them
(6%) were from the Faculty of Economic And Administrative Sciences and
eight of the participants (2%) were from the Faculty of Architecture.

49

3.3 The Instruments

In this study, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) was used

for self-esteem and Life Events Inventory for University Students
(LEIU) was used for stressful life events, in addition a four questions
information sheet was used to collect demographic data such as
gender, GPA, department and grade about the participants.

3.2.1 Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale (SES):

The SES scale originally was developed by Rosenberg (1965) for the
purpose of measuring global self-esteem. The SES is a one-dimensional
scale designed to measure only perceptions of global self-esteem. In other
words, it taps the extent to which a person is generally satisfied with his/her
life, considers him/herself worthy, holds a positive attitude toward
him/herself, or, alternatively, feels useless, desires more respect. Therefore,
it is important to differentiate Rosenbergs aspects from that of who consider
general self-esteem to represent a sum of self-judgments (Bryne, 1996).

The SES consists of 10 items with a four point Likert type scale
ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. In the Turkish version,
the scale was changed as Totally Right to Totally Wrong by the
adaptation study of uhadarolu (1989). SES is scored with Guttman
scoring format. Five of the items are phrased positively, e.g., On the whole,
50

I am satisfied with myself the other five are phrased negatively, e.g. I
certainly feel useless at times. Positive and negative items were
presented alternately in order to reduce the effect of respondent set.

Based on Guttman scoring format Rosenberg SES follows three

steps of scoring.

In the first step;

For 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th items:

If the answer is Wrong or Totally wrong, 1 point is recoded.

If the answer is Right or Totally right, 0 is recoded.

For 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th items:

If the answer is Right or Totally right, 1 point is recoded.

If the answer is Wrong or Totally wrong, 0 is recoded.

In the second step;

If sum of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd items is at least 2 or more, 1 point is

recoded.

If the sum of 4th and 5th items is 1 or 2, 1 point is recoded. If the

sum is 0, then 0 point is recoded.

For 6th, 7th, and 8th items, a total score is recoded which can be at
most 3, at least 0.

If the sum of 9th and 10th items is at least 1, then 1 is recoded.

51

In the third step;

For each participant a total score of 10 items is computed. This score

may change between 0 and 6.

The score between 0-2 is recoded as 1 which means high selfesteem.

The score between 3-6 is recoded as 2 which means low selfesteem.

The score obtained from SES scale are between 0-6 and, any score
between 0-2 was accepted as indicative of having high self-esteem, and any
score between 3-6 was accepted as indicative of having low self-esteem.

The adaptation of Rosenberg SES to Turkish adolescents, which

included translation, reliability and validity studies, were conducted by
uhadarolu (1985). The correlation between psychiatric interviews and the
self-esteem scale was found to be .71. The test-retest reliability of the
Turkish version of the scale was found to be 0.75. Additional validity
evidence was obtained by ankaya (1997). The significant correlation
between Self-Concept Inventory and Rosenberg SES was found .26
(p< . 001).

In addition, Cronbach alpha reliability was computed for Rosenberg

SES by Kartal (1996). Item-total correlation ranged between .40 and .70.
The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was found .85. Pearson product
moment correlations of Rosenberg SES and Appearance-esteem scores
52

with academical performance, nature and the number of social relations,

perceptions of own popularity, the frequency of dating and perceived
physical fitness were calculated. Self-esteem scores correlated with all of
the variables. In order to provide further evidence for the validity and
reliability of Rosenberg SES, a second study was performed by Kartal
(1996). The data resulted a test-retest reliability of

.82. The Pearson

correlation coefficient between Rosenberg SES and Semantic Differential

Self-Esteem scale (Frank & Moralla, 1976) was .56. For the present study
reliability and validity study was not calculated.

3.2.2 Life Events Inventory for University Students (LEIU)

LEIU is a 49-item Likert form 5-point scale ranging from 1 = Never

to 5 = Always. It was developed for the study of Oral (1999) in the pilot
study. It measures the frequency of specific hassles and life events (e.g.
Heavy schedules of subjects/courses, Not being able to adjust school, Not
being able to participate in social activities etc.) experienced by students.
Most of the items in this scale are overlapped with the stress factors special
to university students found in another study (ahin, Ruganc, Ta, Kuyucu
& Sezgin, 1991). Moreover, some of the items overlapped with the items in
Daily Hassles Scale developed by Kanner, Coyne, Schaffer and Lazarus
(1981). The reliability of LEIU was found alpha = .90 and item total score
correlation of each item ranged between .19 and .64 (Oral, 1999).

53

For the Life Events Inventory for University Students (LEIU) Scale
factor analysis was employed in this study. Three and five factor analysis
was made and three factors were used with respect to categorize items
meaningfully. The result of three factors analysis was presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Three Factor Analysis Results for LEIU

Factor 1 Self-Related Anxiety or Problems
Alpha =. 67
Exp. Var. = 21.2
Factor

Factor

Factor

II

III

3. Problems with girl/boyfriend

.29

.06

.12

8. Anxiety for future

.38

.25

.30

9. Problems in relationships with friends

.44

.37

.01

18. Anxiety for loneliness

.69

.21

.05

19. Questioning myself about my personality

.69

.22

.09

22. Having difficulty in making decisions

.48

.22

.22

25. Not being able to fulfil my responsibilities

.45

.07

.35

26. Fear for being rejected

.66

.05

.06

27. Worry about my physical appearance

.56

.18

.14

39. Inability to express myself to others

.67

.18

.24

45. Sexual problems

.31

.26

.13

46. Anxiety about my weight

.53

.05

.07

48. Anxiety for making mistake

.59

.02

.36

49. Feeling uneasy about being criticized

.57

.14

.24

Items

54

Factor 2 Environmental, Adjustment, Family Problems

Alpha=. 76
Exp. Var. = 6.3
Factor

Factor

Factor

II

III

2. General health problems

.17

.28

.18

4. Accommodation problems

.05

.57

.06

5. Transportation problems

.12

.40

.19

7. Conflict with parents

.05

.37

.16

10. Negative political conditions in country

.14

.36

.02

11. Living away from loved ones (Friends,

.33

.40

.13

.18

.50

.05

13. Not being able to adjust school

.35

.36

.21

14. Financial problems

.08

.61

.20

15. Not being able to participate in social

.24

.47

.37

17. Indifference of persons to one another

.35

.39

.20

21. Discomfort having addiction like alcohol,

.11

.30

.06

24. Nutrition problems

.30

.52

.17

29. Health problem of any family member

.15

.31

.15

36. Problems with room mate/home mate

.22

.49

.13

37. Problems with brothers/sisters

.01

.48

.20

40. Family problems

.14

.51

.13

41. Occupational problems

.09

.51

.15

42. Anxiety over job interviews)

.19

.36

.13

43. Anxiety over depressing news in mass

.21

.52

.09

.28

.39

.01

Items

family, etc.)
12. Problems caused by environmental
conditions (Noise pollution, air pollution,
etc.)

activities (cinema, theatre, reading etc.)

smoking etc.

media
44. Problems in getting adapted to Ankara
55

Factor 3 Academic Events/Problems

Alpha= .60
Exp. Var. = 4.5
Items

Factor

Factor

Factor

II

III

1. Heavy schedules of subjects/courses

.08

.02

.67

6. Lecture schedule

.12

.07

.66

16. Problems with academic staff

.10

.26

.38

20. Fatigue

.19

.10

.53

23. Not sleeping enough

.01

.16

.49

28. Being unsuccessful in school

.43

.04

.54

30. Problems related to projects or paper

.22

.10

.57

31. Dissatisfaction with the department

.16

.16

.36

32. Difficulty due to education in English

.03

.23

.25

33. Not being able to study enough

.27

.06

.53

34. Heavy exam schedule, exam anxiety

.16

.09

.75

35. Attendance problems

.02

.20

.41

38. Problems with time management

.45

.11

.49

47. Anxiety for not being able to graduate

.24

.14

.43

Three factors solution explained 21.2% of variance for factor I, 6.3%

of variance for factor II and 4.5% of variance for factor III. First factor was
called as Self-Related Anxiety/Problems, the second one named as
Environmental, Adjustment and Family Events/Problems and the last one
called as Academic Events/Problems. Fourteen items were grouped under
the first factor ranging from .29 to .69; twenty one items were grouped under
the second factor ranging between .28 and .61; finally, in the third factor
fourteen items were involved ranging from .25 to .75.

56

3.4 Data Collection Procedures

The application of the instruments was made by the researcher.

Before application, the researcher had a short interview with the instructor
about the aim, and the instruments of this study. The SES scale, the LEIU
and demographic information form were administered to the students in
classroom settings in four weeks in the second semester of 2002-2003
academic year. Each student has completed two questionnaires and four
demographic questions approximately 10-15 minutes.

3.5 Data Analysis

In this study, Statistics Package for Social Sciences for Windows

10.0 program was used for data analysis.

For the academic achievement classification, Middle East Technical

University Grade System (Ynetmelikler, 2001) was used therefore; point
between 0 and 1.99 as a non-achiever and point between 2.00 and 4.00 as
an achiever were accepted. In order to classify the departments of the
participants under the faculties METU General Catalog (2002) was used.
For all analysis, self-esteem score was used as ranging between 0 and 6,
only for determining level of self-esteem; total point of each student was
recoded as high level of self-esteem for point between 0-2 and low level of
self-esteem for point between 3-6. For the LEIU scale three factor analysis
57

was made and total point of each of the three factors were used for all
calculations.

First of all, frequency, mean and standard deviation were calculated

to examine the level of self-esteem of students. Secondly, to understand the
difference between male and female; achiever and non-achiever on self
esteem independent samples t-test was applied. Finally, the relationship
between self-esteem and three factors of life events was analysed by the
Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The .05 alpha levels were accepted
as a sign for statistical significance for all the statistical procedures.

3.6 Limitations of the Study

The sample included only METU students. Therefore, the results of

the present study could not be generalized to all students with the same
age.

Because the sample was not chosen randomly, the number of female
students was not equal to the number of male students, which may have an
effect on gender differences on the self-esteem score.

58

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

In this chapter, findings of this study were presented. First part

included the result of the primary focus of the study, which was examining
self-esteem level of university students. In the second part, gender
difference on self-esteem was presented. Then academic achievement
difference on self-esteem was displayed. Finally, the relationship between
stressful life events and self-esteem was presented.

4.1 Self-Esteem Levels

First question of the present study was What is the self-esteem level
of university students? As the first question of the study, students selfesteem level was investigated. The overall self-esteem mean of sample was
1.03 with a 1.05 standard deviation and the score ranged between 0 and 4.
Level of the self-esteem among students was calculated and result is
presented in Table 2.

59

Table 2. Degree of Self-Esteem Among Students

Self-Esteem Level

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

High

302

88.6

88.6

Low

39

11.4

11.4

Total

341

100.0

100.0

As it is seen in Table 2, there were the 302 students (88.6 % of the

sample) with high self-esteem level, while there were 39 students (11.4 % of
the sample) with low self-esteem level.

4.2 Gender Differences on Self-Esteem

Second problem statement of this study was Is there a significant

difference between male and female on self-esteem level of university
students? An independent-samples t-test was conducted to examine the
difference of self-esteem between male and female students. There were
124 females and 217 males who participated the study. The result including
means, standard deviations of female and male subjects and t-value is
presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Means, Standard Deviations of Females and Males and tValue

Gender
Self-Esteem

Mean

Std.

df

Sig.

339

1.68

0.93

Deviation

Female

124

.90

1.05

Male

217

1.10

1.04

60

The t-test was not significant t (339) = 1.68, p = 0.93. There is no

significant difference between male (M = .90, SD = 1.05) and female
(M = 1.10, SD = 1.04) on the self-esteem scores.

4.3 Academic Achievement Differences on Self-Esteem

To examine the difference of self-esteem score between achiever

and non-achiever students as the third question of the present study
independent-samples t-test was conducted. There were 245 achievers and
73 non-achievers who participated the study. The result including means,
standard deviations and t-value applied to self-esteem is displayed in Table
4.

Table 4. Means Standard Deviations and t-Value of Academic

Achievement on Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem

Mean

Std.

Academic
Achievement
Non-Achiever

73

1.25

1.05

Achiever

245

0.95

1.04

df

Sig.

316

2.12

0.03

Deviation

The t-test was significant, t (316) = 2.12, p = 0.03. The achievers

(M = 0.95; SD = 1.04) have a higher self-esteem score than the nonachievers (M = 1.25; SD = 1.05).

61

4.4 Stressful Life Events and Self-Esteem

The fourth question of the present study was Is there any

relationship between self-esteem and stressful life events of university
students? To investigate the relationship Pearson Product Moment
Correlation was applied. A significant relationship between self-esteem with
factor I named as self-related anxiety/problems (r = .40; p = 0.001), factor II
named as environmental, adjustment and family events/problems (r = .20; p
= 0.001) and factor III named as academic events/problems (r = .19; p =
0.001) was found.

62

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION

The aim of the present study was to investigate level of self-esteem

of university students. Then self-esteem scores of students were analyzed
with respect to gender and academic achievement. Finally, the relationship
between self-esteem and stressful life events is investigated. Self-esteem,
gender and academic achievement was taken as independent variables,
while stressful life events were accepted as dependent variable of the study.
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Stressful life Events and demographic
information form were used. The results will be discussed in the following
sections.

5.1 Discussion of the Findings

The first research question of the study was to examine self-esteem

level of university students. It was found that 88.6 % of students have a high
self-esteem, while 11.4 % of students have low self-esteem. This could be
the result of studying in one of the most qualified universities of Turkey.
63

Because, in order to begin studying at Middle East Technical University,

students have to get high points from the university entrance exam
comparing with most of the universities in Turkey. Therefore, they are
perceived as successful when they deserve to study at METU. This may
give the students feelings of certain level of self-confidence and selfesteem. Or it could be just the opposite; because students have high level
of self-esteem they are more successful in their academic life. Branden
(1994) supported that individuals must have a certain level of self-esteem
before they are willing to persevere long enough to succeed. However,
there has been such an idea that achievement is more likely to be the result
rather than the cause of self-esteem. Both are thus intimately related to one
another. Moreover, some other reasons could be influential on having high
self-esteem like having high socioeconomic status of their family, studying
at qualified high school, and living in a big city. On the other hand, the
reasons having low self-esteem could dependent on not having above
conditions that is low socioeconomic status, studying at unqualified school,
living in a small town.

The difference between male and female students on the scores of

self-esteem was analyzed as the second question of the present study. To
examine the difference between two genders with respect to self-esteem,
independent samples t-test was applied. The result showed that self-esteem
is not connected with gender. That is, there is no significant difference
between self-esteem scores of boys and girls. This finding is not expected
because; there is lots of research that supported the difference between
64

male and female on self-esteem score (Block & Robins, 1993, Gngr,
1989, Byrne, 2000). However, as it is mentioned in the review of literature,
there are several contradictions in the studies of gender among self-esteem
(Smith 2002, Growe, 1980; Fenzel & Blyth, 1986). Most of the studies that
investigated the gender differences in self-esteem found that adolescent
females score were lower on self-esteem than do adolescent males (Block
& Robins, 1993; Kling et al., 1999; Richman, et al., 1985; Rosenberg &
Simmons, 1975; Chubb, Fertman & Ross, 1997; Gngr, 1989; Byrne,
2000; Allgood-Merten & Stochard, 1991).

Kearney-Cooke (2000) stated that self-esteem declines during

adolescence, which may be the result of increasing cognitive ability and
sensitivity to perceived social evaluation. The gap between adolescents
view of their real selves compared to their ideal selves widens and selfesteem declines. The research indicates that this drop is more profound for
girls than for boys (Eccles, Flanagan, & et al., 1989; Rosenberg & Simmons,
1975). There are also studies that mentioned females view themselves
more positively than do males (Thornberg & Jones, 1982; Whiteside, 1976;
Lackovic-Girgin & Dekovic, 1990).

Consistent with the present study, Maccoby and Jacklin (1979) found
that there was no difference between two genders. Smith (2002) also
investigated the effect on self-esteem and gender differences and no
significant difference was found between male and female. When the
literature was searched, it was seen that there are many studies explaining
65

no significant gender difference on self-esteem (Bosacki, Innerd, & Towaon,

1979; Growe, 1980; Wylie, 1979; Bohan, 1973, Guinn & Vincent, 2002,
Fenzel & Blyth, 1986).

The difference between academic achievement and self-esteem

scores of students was examined as the third question of the present study.
As a result of independent t-test applied between self-esteem and academic
achievement, it was found that there is a significant difference between
achievers and non-achievers on self-esteem. This result shows consistency
with the literature. Studies that search global self-evaluation to academic
achievements reveal the positive relationship between two variables (Marsh,
1990; Shunk, 1990; Hattie, 1992; Eccles, 1993; Bryne, 1996). There are
also many studies that provided same results between academic
achievement and self-esteem (Alves-Martins et al., 2002; Bloom, 1977;
Wiggins, 1987; Kimball, 1972).

Thombs (2000) found that first-year college students with relatively

low self-esteem were more likely to exhibit many problem behaviors, than
those with higher self-esteem. Some examples included alcohol problems,
poor time management, poor study habits, and self-defeating behavior, than
those with higher self-esteem. In previous psychological studies, selfesteem has been linked to personal adjustment, physical health, and
academic motivation and success among college students, through forms of
social support. Based on the cognitive adaptation theory, Taylor and Brown
(1988) found level of self-esteem to be directly related to seeking social
66

support and indirectly to actual support, physical health and adjustment to

college. Self-esteem was also found to be the best of five predictors
(including SAT scores) of academic motivation, which was them linked to
grade point average two years later.

Having

one's

academic

achievement

meet

one's

academic

expectations and desires is a major key to most college students' selfesteem. Having a high self-esteem has many positive effects and benefits,
especially among college students. Students who feel positive about
themselves have fewer sleepless nights, cope with less easily to pressures
of conformity by peers, are less likely to use drugs and alcohol, are more
persistent at difficult tasks, are happier and more sociable, and most
pertinent to this study is that they tend to perform better academically. On
the other hand, college students with a low self-esteem tend to be unhappy,
less sociable, more likely to use drugs and alcohol, and are more vulnerable
to depression, which are all correlated with lower academic achievement
(Wiggins & Schatz, 1994).

The research, made by Wiggins & Schatz (1994), has shown that
self-esteem and academic achievement correlate directly to a moderate
degree. Honors students tend to demonstrate higher academic self-esteem
and competency. For them, this academic self-esteem seems to become a
motivational factor (Moeller, 1994). For many college students their selfesteem is based or enforced by their academic success or achievements.
67

According to studies of Rosenberg & Pearlin (1978); Demo & SavinWilliams (1983) four theoretical principles -social comparisons, reflected
appraisals, self-perception, and psychological centrality- have been
suggested to explain the relation between academic achievement and selfesteem among children and adolescents. First of all, because of studying in
competitive
constantly

and
be

grade-conscious

reminded

about

educational
the

institutions,

importance

of

one

his/her

can

grades

(psychological centrality). Secondly, one can have daily opportunities

leading him/her to compare his/her performance with others (social
comparisons). Next one is the reaction of others/friends that are monitored
or internalized (reflected appraisals). Lastly, personal determinations of
success or failure shape ones self-concept (self-perceptions).

A Factor analysis was conducted to see whether Life Events

Inventory for University Students (LEIU) has a factor structure. The items
converged into three factors, which are self-related events/problems,
environmental,

adjustment

and

family

events/problems,

and

finally

academic events/problems. To understand the relationship between selfesteem and stressful life events as the fourth research question, Pearson
Product Moment Correlation was applied. Significant relationship between
self-related

events/problems,

environmental,

adjustment

and

family

events/problems, academic events/problems and self-esteem were found in

the present study.

68

The students with high self-esteem experience stressful events less

than

the

students

with

low

self-esteem

in

terms

of

self-related

events/problems. With respect to environmental, adjustment and family

events/problems the students with high self-esteem is less stressful than
students with low self-esteem. As for factor three, which is academic
events/problems, similar result was found between student with high selfesteem and low self-esteem. It can be concluded that having high selfesteem is a useful tool for coping with stressful life events, while having low
self-esteem leads to percieve daily life events as more stressful. University
counseling centers should consider this affect of self-esteem on stressful life
events.

Abouserie (1994) found negative correlation between self-esteem

and academic and life stress, which indicates that students with high selfesteem are less stressed than those with low. Zuckerman (1989) suggests
that this may be because greater self-esteem reduces stress by fostering
social resources and effective coping. One solution can be enhancing
students ability to cope with stress by enhancing self-esteem of students.
As Abouserie (1994) indicated that self-esteem can serve as variable
moderating the impact of academic and life stress and students personality
variables should be taken into account in predicting reaction to those
stressful life events.

69

5.2 Implications

When the findings of the present study are considered with respect to
self-esteem level of university students, it was found that the number of
university students with high level of self-esteem is significantly more than
the students with low self-esteem.

Moreover, it was found that self-esteem scores of male and female

students were not different. This could be an important clue for counseling
studies while enhancing self-esteem level of students. On the other hand,
academic achievement has a significant effect upon university students.
Students who feel themselves as having lower self-esteem have a lower
academic achievement or vice versa. While designing self-esteem
enhancement programs, counselors and other professionals should take
into consideration this issue also.

According to Branden, (1994), there are several approaches to build

self-esteem. First one is cognitive approach that places the emphasis on
developing positive mental attitudes, helping students to think about their
feelings, and adopt healthier ways of interpreting or relating to the events
that occur in their lives.

Second one is behavioral approach which endeavors to develop

specific functional behaviors in students so that they can display behaviors
that command greater respect from others and self-esteem in themselves.
70

Such behaviors may relate to voice control, posture, eye contact, or

expression of feelings. Another one is experiential approach that provides
positive experiences for students to build up feelings of self-respect and
self-esteem. Most of the activities rely on external sources of feedback and
reinforcement. Skill development is another approach in which number of
programs is used to build self-esteem by improving the functional
communication skills, decision-making skills, or social skills of students.
They base their programs on the concept that unless students actually
function at a higher level, they are unable to sustain positive feelings about
themselves. Environmental approach is more holistic approach that
structures the environment and the activities students engage in to develop
particular attitudes and skills that lead to self-esteem. It tends to address
such aspects as discipline, social activities, goal setting, responsibility, and
how adults interact with students (Branden, 1994).

With respect to self-esteem and also stressful life events,

environmental approach could be beneficial because it is a holistic
approach, which needs to study about students inside world and his/her
environment. Therefore, counselor should have such a holistic approach to
be beneficial and effective in that area.

Stress is another subject that appears to have a negative impact on

self-esteem or vice versa. In the present study, all factors under the LEIU
scales revealed strong relationship with self-esteem. Adaptation to
university life, staying away from family or loved ones, adaptations to
71

courses, managing with economical issues; all these stuff make the
students life difficult and create stressful environment. As a result of each
failed action while coping with these stressful life events lead to feeling less
self-esteem. They perceive themselves with lower self-esteem or because
students feel less self-esteemed, they perceive daily life events as more
stressful than that of students with high self-esteem. It is a kind of vicious
circle that one sometimes could not way out. Therefore, counseling studies
should emphasize on coping with these stressful life events and difficulties
caused by university life and its extensions. Increasing awareness of
students about university life will have a significant effect while considering
these problems. Moreover, as Youngs and Rathge (1990) suggested that
self-esteem of stressed adolescents should be carefully monitored and
actively supported.

5.3 Recommendations for Further Studies

On the basis of the findings of present study, some recommendations

could be given for further studies:

1. The present study could be reapplied to larger sample by comparing

different universities students.

2. In the demographic information form, more detailed information can be

asked to analyze sample characteristics (e.g. Socioeconomic status of
students, family related questions, place where they live)
72

3. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is a difficult one with respect to scoring.

Because, scores between 0 and 2 is accepted as an indicator of high selfesteem while scores between 3 and 6 is accepted as an indicator of low
self-esteem. This could lead to misunderstanding and mess about the
result. There may be studied on different scoring format. Other researchers
should take into consideration this difficulty before using Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale.

4. In the present study, it was seen that having high self-esteem has a
supporting effect on coping with stressful life events that one experiences in
daily life. As a consequence, university counselors or professionals should
take into consideration this effect and they could develop programs for
university students in order to enhance self-esteem and deal with stressful
life events

73

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APPENDIX A

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FORM

Sevgili arkadalar,
Bu alma, niversite rencilerinin gnlk yaamda karlatklar
ve strese yol aabilecek olaylar ile benlik saygs arasndaki ilikiyi
anlamaya ynelik olarak hazrlanan yksek lisans tezi iin dzenlenmitir.
Aratrma sonucunda toplanan bilgiler grup olarak deerlendirilecei iin
kimlik bilgilerinizi vermeniz gerekmemektedir.
Sizden aadaki kiisel bilgileri verdikten sonra lekleri aklnza
gelen ilk yant vererek doldurmanz beklenmektedir.
Katklarnz iin imdiden teekkr ederim.
Serap Emil
Eitim Bilimleri Blm
Yksek Lisans rencisi

Blmnz:
Snfnz:
Cinsiyetiniz:

( ) Kz

( ) Erkek

Genel Not Ortalamanz:

91

APPENDIX B

ROSENBERG SELF-ESTEEM SCALE

Ltfen aadaki her cmleyi dikkatle okuduktan sonra her ifadenin yanndaki
seeneklerden aklnza ilk gelen ve size en uygun olan iaretleyiniz. Her ifade
iin sadece bir tane seenei iaretleyiniz.

ok
Doru

Doru

Yanl

ok
Yanl

1. Kendimi en az dier insanlar kadar

deerli buluyorum.

2. Baz olumlu zelliklerimin olduunu

dnyorum.

3. Genelde kendimi baarsz bir kii olarak

grme eilimindeyim.

4. Ben de dier insanlarn yapabildii

eyleri yapabilirim.

5. Kendimde gurur duyacak fazla birey

bulamyorum.

6. Kendime
iindeyim.

7. Genel olarak kendimden memnunum.

8. Kendime kar daha

duyabilmeyi isterdim.

sayg

bir ie

10. Bazen hite iyi bir insan olmadm

dnyorum.

kar

olumlu

bir

fazla

9. Bazen, kesinlikle kendimin

yaramadn dnyorum.

tutum

92

APPENDIX C

LIFE EVENTS INVENTORY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Aada gnlk yaantnzda size sknt verebilecek baz olaylardan ve

sorunlardan szedilmektedir. Her maddeyi dikkatle okuyarak hangi sklkla byle bir
olayla veya sorunla karlatnz dnnz ve maddelerin karlarnda bulunan

Hibir zaman

Nadiren

Ara sra

Sk sk

Her zaman

seeneklerden sadece size uygun birini seip daire iine alarak belirtiniz.

1. Derslerin arl ve younluu

2. Genel salk problemleri

3. Kz/erkek arkadamla olan problemler

4. Barnma ile ilgili sorunlar

5. Ulam sorunu

6. Zamann skkl

7. Anne ve babamla aramzdaki atmalar

8. Gelecekle ilgili kayglar

9. Arkada ilikilerinde yaanan sorunlar

10. lkedeki olumsuz siyasi gelimeler

11. Sevdiim insanlardan ayr olmak (Aile, arkadalar,

vs.)
12. evresel koullardan (Grlt, havalar, kirlilik vs.)
dolay yaanan sorunlar

93

Hibir zaman

Nadiren

Ara sra

Sk sk

Her zaman

13. Okula uyum salayamamak

14. Maddi problemler

15. Sosyal faaliyetlere katlamamak (spor, kitap okumak,

sinemaya, tiyatroya gitmek vs.)
16. retim grevlileri ile ilgili sorunlar

17. nsanlarn birbirine kar duyarsz olmas

18. Yalnzlk kayglar

19. Kiiliimle ilgili kendimi sorgulamak

20. Yorgunluk

21. ki, sigara ve benzeri alkanlklarn verdii

22. Karar vermekte glk ekmek

23. Uykusuzluk

24. Beslenme problemi

25. Sorumluluklarm yerine getirememek

26. Reddedilme korkusu

27. Fiziksel grnmle ilgili endieler

28. Okulda baarsz olmak

29. Ailede birinin rahatszl

30. devler ya da projelerin verdii skntlar

31. Okuduum blmden memnun olmamak

32. Derslerin ngilizce olmasndan dolay zorluk ekmek

33. Yeterince ders alamamak

34. Snavlarn skkl, snav kaygs

35. Okula devamszlk problemi

36. Yurt ya da ev arkadalarmla yaadm problemler

37. Karde(ler) imle ile ilgili sorunlar

38. Zamanm yeterince iyi deerlendirememek

39. Kendimi insanlara yeterince ifade edememek

40. Ailevi problemlerim

41. altm ile ilgili sorunlar

rahatszlklar

94

Hibir zaman

Nadiren

Ara sra

Sk sk

Her zaman

42. grmeleri ile ilgili kayglar

43. Yayn organlarndaki kt haberlerle ilikili kayglar

44. Ankaraya uyum salayamamak

45. Cinsel sorunlar

46. Kilomla ilgili kayglar

47. Mezun olamama kaygs

48. Hata yapma kaygs

49. Eletirilmekten duyduum rahatszlk

95