NCJ Number
143556
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 609-624
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This analysis of studies of race, self-esteem, and juvenile delinquency questions the validity of prior measures of self-esteem, especially in studies making racial comparisons of self-esteem and delinquency, and makes distinctions among personal and group identity measures of self-esteem.
Abstract
The analysis also identifies several conceptual and methodological problems in studies of race, self-esteem, and delinquency. These include inconsistent research methodologies, inadequate methods, and unusually small samples. In addition, operational definitions of self-esteem often competed with comparable terms such as self-concept and self-evaluation in the midst of many other scales designed to measure self-esteem. At times, the choice of scales appeared to be a matter of convenience. Moreover, studies involving adjudicated delinquents, adult criminals, and preadolescents failed to consider the causal order of variables for a given relationship. Thus, these studies often reflected more confusion than understanding. To address these problems, researchers should recognize that self-esteem has different meanings for persons of different races and that personal identity differs from group identity. Investigators should also consider methods that emphasize a causal modeling approach in conjunction with both item and factor analysis. Finally, incorporating self- esteem into social control theory might result in a more strongly explanatory theoretical model. 64 references