Sex Differences In Sources Of Self Esteem

Gender differences are of interest in a wide range of disciplines. This diversity is reflected within this book, which provides a contemporary account of sex differences in areas such as social skills, play behaviour, creativity, motivation, temperament, classroom behaviour, self-esteem, and trust.

Literature cited in AGRICOLA, Dissertations abstracts international, ERIC, ABI/INFORM, MEDLARS, NTIS, Psychological abstracts, and Sociological abstracts. Selection focuses on education, legal aspects, career aspects, sex differences, lifestyle, and health. Common format (bibliographical information, descriptors, and abstracts) and ERIC subject terms used throughout. Contains order information. Subject, author indexes.

Aspects of personality have the potential to significantly affect health outcomes. Protective factors categorize such characteristics that may buffer an individuals risk of experience negative health outcomes in adverse situations, such as social exclusion. Positive affect and self-esteem are two protective factors that have additional implications for overall health and well-being. Positive affect refers to an individuals pleasant emotions (e.g., joy, excitement, happiness) in response to the environment. Self-esteem relates to an individuals perception and understandings of his/her value and worth. Both positive affect and self-esteem can be influenced by social exclusion and this relationship may be further influenced by sex. Research suggests that females are more emotionally reactive to their environments, especially in regard to highly valued social connections. Additionally, previous studies have determined that females typically have lower self-esteem, relative to men. To investigate sex differences in positive affect and self-esteem in response to social exclusion, the present study utilized data from the Social Interactions and Health (SIH) Study, a two-group, randomized controlled experiment. SIH used Cyberball to simulate social exclusion, which was the experimental condition. 120 college students, 80 in the exclusion condition and 40 in the inclusion (control) condition, participated in the study. It was hypothesized that females would exhibit greater decreases in both positive affect and self-esteem in response to social exclusion, relative to males. Although there were differences by sex and Cyberball condition in changes in positive affect and self-esteem levels, analyses indicated that no significant relationships were observed.