Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: A cohort-sequential longitudinal study.

The authors examined the development of self-esteem from young adulthood to old age. Data came from the Americans’ Changing Lives study, which includes 4 assessments across a 16-year period of a nationally representative sample of 3,617 individuals aged 25 years to 104 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem follows a quadratic trajectory across the adult life span, increasing during young and middle adulthood, reaching a peak at about age 60 years, and then declining in old age. No cohort differences in the self-esteem trajectory were found. Women had lower self-esteem than did men in young adulthood, but their trajectories converged in old age. Whites and Blacks had similar trajectories in young and middle adulthood, but the self-esteem of Blacks declined more sharply in old age than did the self-esteem of Whites. More educated individuals had higher self-esteem than did less educated individuals, but their trajectories were similar. Moreover, the results suggested that changes in socioeconomic status and physical health account for the decline in self-esteem that occurs in old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and self-esteem: Meta-analyses comparing Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians and comment on Gray-Little and Hafdahl (2000).

These meta-analyses examine race differences in self-esteem among 712 datapoints. Blacks scored higher than Whites on self-esteem measures (d=0.19), but Whites scored higher than other racial minority groups, including Hispanics (d=-0.09), Asians (d=-0.30), and American Indians (d=-0.21). Most of these differences were smallest in childhood and grew larger with age. Blacks' self-esteem increased over time relative to Whites', with the Black advantage not appearing until the 1980s. Black and Hispanic samples scored higher on measures without an academic self-esteem subscale. Relative to Whites, minority males had lower self-esteem than did minority females, and Black and Hispanic self-esteem was higher in groups with high socioeconomic status. The results are most consistent with a cultural interpretation of racial differences in self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in drinking problems among whites, blacks, and Hispanics: 1984-1992

This paper reports changes in drinking problems among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics between 1984 and 1992. A probability sample including 1,777 Whites. 1,947 Blacks, and 1,453 Hispanics in the United States adult household population was interviewed in 1984. In 1992 a subsample consisting of 788 Whites, 723 Blacks, and 703 Hispanics was reinterviewed. Results show a decrease in problem prevalence among Whites, stability among Blacks, and an increase among Hispanics. Problem incidence was higher among Hispanics than among Whites and Blacks, put problem remission was higher among Whites. Women had a lower problem incidence but a higher problem remission than men, independent of ethnicity. The two best predictors of problem status in 1992 were reporting a problem in 1984 and reporting a high level of consumption in 1984.     

Race-ethnic inequality and psychological distress: Depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood.

Social inequality is well established in the mental health of race-ethnic groups, but little is known about this disparity from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examined differences in trajectories of depressive symptoms across 4 race-ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) using 3 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Latent trajectory analyses showed race-ethnic variations among both females and males. Stressors were significantly related to depressive symptoms for all study members, but they accounted for symptom trajectories only among Black males and minority females. Persistent differences in trajectories for Blacks and Whites showed parallel slopes that did not converge over time. Neither background characteristics nor social resources (i.e., social support) altered this gap. However, social support represents a potential equalizer of these race-ethnic differences, owing to the ubiquitous nature of its protective effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affiliation with antisocial peers, susceptibility to peer influence, and antisocial behavior during the transition to adulthood.

Developmental theories suggest that affiliation with deviant peers and susceptibility to peer influence are important contributors to adolescent delinquency, but it is unclear how these variables impact antisocial behavior during the transition to adulthood, a period when most delinquent individuals decline in antisocial behavior. Using data from a longitudinal study of 1,354 antisocial youth, the present study examined how individual variation in exposure to deviant peers and resistance to peer influence affect antisocial behavior from middle adolescence into young adulthood (ages 14 to 22 years). Whereas we find evidence that antisocial individuals choose to affiliate with deviant peers, and that affiliating with deviant peers is associated with an individual’s own delinquency, these complementary processes of selection and socialization operate in different developmental periods. In middle adolescence, both selection and socialization serve to make peers similar in antisocial behavior, but from ages 16 to 20 years, only socialization appears to be important. After age 20, the impact of peers on antisocial behavior disappears as individuals become increasingly resistant to peer influence, suggesting that the process of desistance from antisocial behavior may be tied to normative changes in peer relations that occur as individuals mature socially and emotionally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational pathways to alcohol use and abuse among Black and White adolescents.

Using data from a biracial community sample of adolescents, the present study examined trajectories of alcohol use and abuse over a 15-year period, from adolescence into young adulthood, as well as the extent to which these trajectories were differentially predicted by coping and enhancement motives for alcohol use among the 2 groups. Coping and enhancement motivations (M. L. Cooper, 1994) refer to the strategic use of alcohol to regulate negative and positive emotions, respectively. Results showed that Black and White youth follow distinct alcohol trajectories from adolescence into young adulthood and that these trajectories are differentially rooted in the regulation of negative and positive emotions. Among Black drinkers, coping motives assessed in adolescence more strongly forecast differences in alcohol involvement into their early 30s, whereas enhancement motives more strongly forecast differences among White drinkers. Results of the present study suggest that different models may be needed to account for drinking behavior among Blacks and Whites and that different approaches may prove maximally effective in reducing heavy or problem drinking among the 2 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-esteem: A quantitative review.

Research on racial comparisons of self-esteem was examined. Early research in this area, exemplified by the doll studies of racial preference, was viewed as demonstrating that Blacks have less self-regard than Whites. However, a meta-analytic synthesis of 261 comparisons, based largely on self-esteem scales and involving more than half a million respondents, revealed higher scores for Black than for White children, adolescents, and young adults. This analysis further revealed that the direction and magnitude of racial differences are influenced by such demographic characteristics as participant age and socioeconomic status, as well as by characteristics of the measuring instruments. Many findings—for example, that the self-esteem advantage for Black respondents increases with age and is related to the sex composition of the sample—underscore the need for long-term longitudinal studies of self-esteem development in male and female members of both racial groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School desegregation: An evaluation of predictions made in Brown v. Board of Education..

Hypotheses concerning the effects of desegregation on prejudice, self-esteem, and achievement were derived from testimony given by social scientists in Brown v. Board of Education. The author explains evidence concerning these hypotheses from published studies of the effects of school desegregation on prejudice and on Black students' achievement, and studies using questionnaire measures of self-esteem to compare segregated Blacks and Whites. It is tentatively concluded that (a) desegregation generally does not reduce the prejudices of Whites toward Blacks, (b) the self-esteem of Blacks rarely increases in desegregated schools, (c) the achievement level of Blacks sometimes increases and rarely decreases in desegregated schools, and (d) desegregation leads to increases in Black prejudice toward Whites about as frequently as it leads to decreases. These conclusions should be regarded as tentative because (a) most of the studies have investigated only the short-term effects of desegregation, (b) the extent and type of desegregation varied greatly, (c) the studies were done in different regions with children who differed in age, (d) the studies often employed noncomparable measures of each variable, and (e) social class and IQ were typically not included as control variables. (132 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mean-level change in self-esteem from childhood through adulthood: Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

This study performs a meta-analysis of the mean-level of change in self-esteem across the life span. Fifty-nine studies yielded data from 130 independent samples. Results indicate that, despite slightly increasing from childhood to the first decade of young adulthood, self-esteem does not change beyond 30 years old. Self-esteem changes the most during the first decade of young adulthood. The effects of gender and time span between assessments on change in self-esteem were minimal during adolescence, while the way self-esteem is measured significantly affects change. The mean effect size was the largest with the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the smallest with Harter's Self-Perception Profile. Birth cohort also significantly influences change, whereas older cohorts change to a smaller extent compared to younger cohorts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of desegregation on race relations and self-esteem.

Examined the effects of desegregation on the interethnic attitudes, interethnic contact, and self-esteem of 309 Blacks, 487 Mexican-Americans, and 528 Whites. Predesegregation Ss were 5th- and 6th-graders at segregated and naturally integrated elementary schools. Postdesegregation Ss were 6th graders from both types of backgrounds who were attending desegregated schools. The attitude and contact data demonstrate that all 3 groups were highly ethnocentric. Whites and Blacks from segregated backgrounds had more negative attitudes toward both out-group and in-group members after desegregation than before. Desegregation had little effect on interethnic contact or self-esteem. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of sex-differentiated preferences during late childhood and adolescence.

Examined factors influencing sex-differentiated responses to selected interests and interpersonal traits by young people in 3 age groups: 516 in late childhood (Grades 4–6), 398 in early adolescence (Grades 7–9), and 337 in late adolescence (Grades 10–12). There was limited evidence for same-sex bias during late childhood, varying by sex and race in its pervasiveness or clarity. Interpersonal traits were not generally sex stereotyped. Several interests were sex stereotyped during adolescence, but not those most directly related to academic learning. In general, interests were more strongly sex stereotyped by boys than by girls. Greater cognitive maturity generally attenuated sex stereotyping of interests. Certain developmental trends differed by sex and/or by race, and socioeconomic background (parents" education) influenced developmental trends among Blacks but not among Whites. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span.

The authors examined age differences in shame, guilt, and 2 forms of pride (authentic and hubristic) from age 13 years to age 89 years, using cross-sectional data from 2,611 individuals. Shame decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a nadir around age 50 years, and then increased in old age. Guilt increased from adolescence into old age, reaching a plateau at about age 70 years. Authentic pride increased from adolescence into old age, whereas hubristic pride decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a minimum around age 65 years, and then increased in old age. On average, women reported experiencing more shame and guilt; Blacks reported experiencing less shame and Asians more hubristic pride than other ethnicities. Across the life span, shame and hubristic pride tended to be negatively related to psychological well-being, and shame-free guilt and authentic pride showed positive relations with well-being. Overall, the findings support the maturity principle of personality development and suggest that as people age they become more prone to experiencing psychologically adaptive self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and authentic pride, and less prone to experiencing psychologically maladaptive ones, such as shame and hubristic pride. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-relevance of person characteristics: Persons' beliefs about developmental change across the lifespan.

The authors investigated normative beliefs about personality development. Young, middle-aged, and older adults indicated the age-relevance of 835 French adjectives by specifying person characteristics as typical for any age decade from 0 to 99 years. With this paradigm, the authors determined age-relevance (How typical is a characteristic for a given age decade?). Most characteristics were ascribed to young adulthood. The pattern differed across the lifespan, however, for positive and negative person characteristics as well as for physical, cognitive, and personal/expressive characteristics. Whereas the total number of ascribed positive characteristics peaked in young adulthood and declined thereafter, the number of ascribed negative person characteristics peaked during adolescence, remained fairly low during middle adulthood, and increased slightly in old age (70+ years). As a consequence, the most positive profile was ascribed to young olds (60 to 69 years), whereas the most negative personality profiles were ascribed to the oldest age groups (70+ years) and to adolescence (10 to 19 years). The negative profiles are primarily due to more negative physical characteristics ascribed to older adults and more negative cognitive characteristics ascribed to adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Black self-rejection: Another look.

Investigated the self-esteem and ethnocentric attitudes and behavior of 51 Black, 192 White, and 103 Mexican-American 4th and 5th graders. Previous research employing indirect measures of self-rejection led to the hypothesis that Blacks hold their group and themselves in low esteem. Results indicate that Blacks are now lower in self-esteem than Whites or Mexican Americans and that all 3 groups are ethnocentric in attitudes and behavior. Only one assumption made by investigators using indirect measures of self-rejection was supported by this study: Blacks who held their own ethnic group in low esteem tended to be low in self-esteem. The results suggest that if Blacks ever have rejected their ethnic group and themselves, this is no longer the case. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, age, and race differences on overt integrity tests: Results across four large-scale job applicant datasets.

Group differences on overt integrity tests were examined. Gender, age, and race differences were investigated using 724,806 job applicants. Women scored higher on overt integrity tests than men. There were very small differences between older job applicants (40 years old and older) and younger job applicants (younger than 40). No appreciable age-gender interactions were detected. Race differences were examined by comparing mean scores of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians with those of Whites and were found to be trivial. Implications for adverse impact, test construction, and personality measurement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations and achievement among third-, sixth-, and ninth-grade Black and White males and females.

Hypothesized that (a) boys in 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade would have higher expectations than girls, but only 9th-grade boys would have higher achievement; (b) achievement would increase with grade; (c) Whites would have higher expectations and achievement than Blacks; and (d) realism would increase with grade level. 112 Black and White 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders recorded their expectations and then attempted to perform tasks of math, mazes, or geometric drawings. Contrary to predictions and most previous studies, no significant sex differences were found. Whites achieved higher scores on mazes and drawings than did Blacks. The expectations of Blacks rose with grade level, regardless of concomitant achievements; but expectations of Whites did not. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seeds of wisdom: Adolescents' knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems.

The present study examined adolescents' wisdom-related knowledge and judgment with a heterogeneous sample of 146 adolescents (ages 14–20 years) and a comparison sample of 58 young adults (ages 21–37 years). Participants responded to difficult and ill-defined life dilemmas; expert raters evaluated these responses along 5 wisdom criteria. Our findings confirmed that in contrast to adulthood, adolescence is a major period for normative age-graded development in knowledge about difficult life problems. Adolescents performed at lower levels than young adults but also demonstrated substantial age increments in performance. As expected, adolescents' performance varied as a function of criterion and gender. These results hold implications for research on adolescent development and for the development of wisdom-related knowledge and judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual integration on the Rorschach as an indicator of cognitive capacity: A developmental study of racial differences in a clinic population.

Rorschach protocols of 173 7-14 yr old Blacks and Whites who had been evaluated at a child guidance clinic were rescored with respect to developmental level of perceptual integration. Blacks had higher perceptual-integration scores in comparison to Whites. This finding, however, was accounted for by the higher performance of low-IQ (70-89) Blacks as compared to low-IQ Whites. No differences were obtained between average-IQ (90-109) Blacks or Whites. It is suggested that standard IQ tests may not adequately tap the cognitive capacity of some Black children and that use of the Rorschach from a developmental/structural perspective may provide a useful adjunctive measure of intelligence that would more realistically assess children's cognitive competence. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and race differences in the trajectories of self-esteem.

The purpose of this research was to assess age- and race-based variation in within-persons changes in self-esteem over a 16-year period. We used hierarchical linear modeling with data from 3,617 adults 25 years of age and older who were interviewed up to 4 times. Self-esteem increased, on average, over the course of the study period. At the same time, significant age variations around this trend were observed, with younger adults experiencing increases in self-esteem and older adults experiencing decreases. In general, race differences were not evident with respect to average levels or rates of change in self-esteem. However, a significant Age × Race interaction suggested that late-life declines in self-esteem were steeper for Blacks compared with Whites. These findings suggest the presence of age- and race-based stratification with respect to self-esteem. Future work in this area should examine the health and well-being effects of declining self-esteem during old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hip fracture incidence among elderly Hispanics

OBJECTIVES: This study estimated hip fracture incidence for elderly Hispanics in the United States. METHODS: A cohort of Spanish-surnamed 1992 Medicare enrollees was followed for 2 years. Hip fractures were identified by inpatient diagnostic code. RESULTS: For Hispanic women, the national age-adjusted hip fracture rate was 7.3 per 1000 person-years; for men, the rate was 3.3. Rates varied markedly, with higher rates for the predominantly Mexican-American southwestern states than for Puerto Ricans. CONCLUSIONS: Nationally, the Hispanic population is at intermediate risk of hip fracture between Blacks and Whites, but geographic variation suggests that Mexican Americans are at higher risk than Puerto Ricans.