The structure of self-esteem: a bifactor modeling approach of the Self-liking/Self-competence Scale-Revised (SLCS-R) in Chinese preadolescents

Abstract

Although more and more studies concern about the development of self-esteem in preadolescents, there is a lack of systematic verification of tools for measuring self-esteem for preadolescents. To address that, the present study verified the measurement model, reliability, and dimensionality of the Self-liking/Self-competence Scale-Revised (SLCS-R; Tafarodi & Swann, 2001), a widely used scale to measure self-esteem, in a sample of 616 Chinese preadolescents aged 9–13 years old. The results showed that the bifactor model with a general factor and two specific factors was the best fit model to the data. Multiple index of the bifactor model showed that the common variance of the SLCS-R is mostly account to the general factor, and only the general factor demonstrated satisfactory reliability. These results suggested that the SLCS-R was essentially unidimensional, despite some multidimensionality for Chinese preadolescents.