Gender Differences and Developmental Changes of Adolescents' Self-Esteem

청소년의 자아존중감 성별차이와 발달적 변화

The purpose of the study was to specify the gender differences and the developmental changes of adolescents' self-esteem. The data was collected from 497 middle school students who were living at Pusan Korea through the questionnaire method by short-term longitudinal research design of 9 months interval. During the first datacollection session, May 1997, the participants completed the multidimensional self-esteem inventory that includes self-esteem dimensions such as home self, peer-related self, teacher-related self, academic-general self, physical-appearance self, physical-competence self and personality self. And during the second datacollection session, the participants completed the same questionnaires of the first session. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the boy's self-esteem such dimensions of home self, teacher-related self, physical-appearance self, physical-competence self and personality self were significantly higher than those of girls. Second, the home self, peer-related self, teacher-related self, and academic-general self were decreased over time.