Self-esteem, delinquent peers, and delinquency: A test of the self-enhancement thesis

We test Kaplan's self-enhancement thesis, which argues that self-esteem is negatively related to delinquency but that delinquency is positively related to later self-esteem. Previous research on these countervailing causal effects has not been supportive, possibly because of a failure to specify and test for intervening mechanisms that may link self-esteem and delinquency. We focus on the impact of delinquent peers as a central intervening variable. Using panel data from a sample of urban adolescents, we find that low self-esteem does not increase either associations with delinquent peers or delinquent behavior. Delinquent associations, however, do have significant self-enhancing effects on later self-esteem, but delinquent behavior does not. These findings are similar across gender and across racial/ethnic groups and when alternative measures of self-esteem are used.