Correlation of self-esteem with oral hygiene behaviour and oral health status among adult dental patients.

Background: Self-esteem is a psychological construct that has been consistently linked to general and oral health. However, most studies interpolating self-esteem and oral health behaviour have been focused on children and adolescents, and there is a dearth of scientific literature on adults. Hence, this study, that is aimed to correlate self-esteem with oral hygiene behaviour and oral health status in Telugu-speaking adult dental patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving adult dental patients who were 35-44 years of age and visited the Government Dental Hospital in Hyderabad city, India, was conducted. Self-esteem was assessed using the Telugu-translated version of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, oral health behaviour was determined using the Oral Hygiene Behaviour Index and oral health assessment was performed using the World Health Organization Dentition status, the modified Community Periodontal Index and the Loss of Attachment. Results: A total of 456 patients were included in this study. Most of the participants reported low self-esteem, with a mean score of 11.8 ± 2.7. Patients with primary school education reported higher self-esteem scores than those with high school and university education (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, low Oral Hygiene Behaviour Index scores (64.9%) in the study population and high Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth scores in females (5.7 ± 4.4; p = 0.09) were noted. None of the variables (Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth scores, Oral Hygiene Behaviour, gingival bleeding and Loss of Attachment) were significantly correlated with self-esteem. Multivariable regression analysis revealed that younger age, lower educational level and presence of dental caries resulted in higher odds for high self-esteem (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The findings indicated a significant association between self-esteem and oral health. Indivi-duals with dental caries had significantly higher odds for high self-esteem. Thus, this study emphasises the relevance of psychosocial factors, such as self-esteem, as the mediator of oral health.

Psychometric properties of the Telugu version of Rosenberg Self-esteem scale (RSES-T).

Background: The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES) is the most commonly used tool for measuring global self-esteem. Till date, RSES has been translated into different languages and the reports are good for their validity and reliability. Telugu being the fourth most spoken language in India, it is timely to translate and validate the Telugu version of RSES. The aim of this study thus is to assess the psychometric properties of the Telugu version of Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES-T). Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was carried out to assess the psychometric properties of RSES-T among undergraduate students of a dental college. For this purpose, the English version of RSES was translated into Telugu and was administered to the participants along with the revised English version of Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale (SL/SC-R) to evaluate the construct validity. The internal consistency of RSES-T was assessed using Cronbach´s α and the temporal stability was tested by test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the underlying dimensional structure of the questionnaire by assessing the cor-relation of RSES-T with SL/SC-R. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a positive one-factor structure with Model 3 showing the best fit to data. Internal consistency for RSES-T was found to be good with Cronbach's α of 0.82 at follow-up and the test-retest reliability was found to be satisfactory (0.42) after a two weeks' interval. Furthermore, the item-wise mean score differences showed higher scores for male students than females. Likewise, the item-total correlation of RSES-T showed positive correlation with scores varying from 0.17 to 0.69 at the follow-up. Conclusion: The Telugu version of RSES exhibited a unidimensional structure and showed good psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, construct validity and reliability. Hence, these findings provide empirical support to evaluate global self-esteem among Telugu speaking population in future.