THE SELF-ESTEEM OF ADOLESCENTS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC HIGH-SCHOOLS - A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES

This study is a multilevel investigation of the global self-esteem of adolescents in American public high schools. The primary objectives were: (1) to evaluate the influence of student characteristics and public high school social climate on adolescent global self-esteem in a first-stage or micro-model; (2) to evaluate the influence of social climate on the variability of individual differences from school to school in a second-stage or macro-model; and (3) to cross-validate the first- and second-stage models to assess generalizability of the findings. Schools (n = 219) and students (n = 13022) were sampled from High School and Beyond, a database representative of secondary schools and students in the U.S.A.; half the sample was set aside for cross-validation purposes. Collective well-being and distress were predictors of adolescent esteem in the presence of theoretically important student characteristics. The relationship of social climate to variability of esteem suggests that a positive climate may reduce individual differences within the school. Methodological comments on the employed multilevel analysis are offered.