Influence of ability to face reality and social support on self-esteem in middle school students

Abstract

Background: Our study examined associations between the ability to face reality and social support on changes in self-esteem facilitated by a psychoeducational program. Methods: 49 Japanese junior high school students were given pre-, mid- and post-tests to evaluate their self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1979), their utilization of social support (Kijima, 2008) and their ability to face reality (Matsumoto, 2008). Findings: An examination of self-esteem growth trajectories across the program sessions and a subsequent latent growth curve model, with ability to face reality and social support as predictors, revealed a good fit with the data (χ2 (4) = 3.487. ns, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.000). Social support and the ability to face reality significantly predicted the intercept (β = .40, p < .05; β = -.36, p < .10). In the low-self-esteem groups, the ability to face reality through determined control approached significance in predicting the slope (β = .29, p < .01). Discussion: These results suggest that students with low-self-esteem experienced improvement as the program proceeded and it is important to promote the ability to face reality to improve self-esteem.