Development and Validation of Self-Esteem Scale Adapted for Chinese and Pakistani Adolescents

Abstract

Self-evaluation is defined as the relative goodness people attach to themselves or what they believe others attach to them. It is a socially constructed ideal or multifaceted social construct on which we base our evaluations. This study aimed to determine the validity, reliability, and factor structure of the self-esteem scale developed for Pakistani and Chinese adolescents. The findings revealed that overall, Chinese global self-esteem was higher than Pakistanis global self-esteem. Pakistani boys’ self-esteem was lower than Pakistani girls’ self-esteem in all domains. Chinese girls’ social self-acceptance was significantly higher than Chinese boys’ self-esteem, and for other domains, there was no significant gender difference. Girls don’t differ significantly between both countries with respect to competence in social and academic fields and acceptance in physical and academic fields. Additionally Chinese prefer to express their self-esteem in competency terms and Pakistanis value acceptance terms to express their self-esteem. This study would help policy makers to design an intervention based on the information provided in this paper that would help Pakistani adolescents feel esteemed in academic and social fields.