Development and validation of a Self-esteem Contingency Questionnaire for Adolescents

Abstract

Self-esteem (SE) contingency refers to the extent to which one's level of self-esteem depends on meeting certain internal or external criteria and has been identified as a psychological risk factor. Addressing limitations of existing SE contingency questionnaires, we developed a domain-specific situation-response questionnaire for adolescents that (1) measures SE contingency in domains which are considered important for adolescents, based on multidimensional self-concept models, and (2) includes balanced numbers of positive and negative items per domain, allowing to distinguish between upward and downward contingencies. The current findings support the reliability and validity of the new 24-item questionnaire in a sample of high school students (N=599, age range 15–22). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the 4 (domains)×2 (valence) structure of our questionnaire and its convergent and discriminant validity was established. Finally, external validity was supported by finding the expected associations with psychological control and depressive symptoms.