Social support and self-esteem in unemployed university graduates.

The first aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the length of time of unemployment and the self-esteem and general life satisfaction of university graduates. The second aim was to examine the function of social support during the period of unemployment. The sample consisted of 98 unemployed university graduates (67 females and 31 males). The measure of self-esteem consisted of the adapted Rosenberg scale. The instruments for assessment of general life satisfaction and social support were developed by the authors of this study. Results showed that length of unemployment, contrary to previous findings, was not related to self-esteem and general life satisfaction. Social support of the parents and the partner was associated with higher self-esteem of unemployed university graduates.

Pubertal status, interaction with significant others, and self-esteem of adolescent girls.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between pubertal status, the quality of interactions with significant others, and the self-esteem of adolescent girls. The model which was tested, hypothesized that pubertal status affects self-esteem through girls' interactions with their parents and friends. Pubertal status was operationalized as the number of months between occurrence of the first menstrual periods and time of the investigation. The measure of self-esteem was the shortened form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Analyses revealed that girls who begun menstruating six months before the investigation obtained higher scores on the measure of self-esteem than did girls who had been menstruating 13 months or more. The best predictor of self-esteem, however, was the quality of interaction with their mothers. The results support the theoretical view that stresses the importance of interaction with significant others for the development of self-esteem.

Some predictors of Yugoslavian adolescents' problems.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative contribution of personal (locus of control, extraversion-intraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism), interpersonal (control, nurture, and intimacy in relationships with parents and teacher), and demographic variables (family setting, family structure, school, educational level of mother and father) to the prediction of adolescents' problems in the following domains: "school," "after school," "myself," "me and others," and "general." The subjects were 391 adolescents of both sexes (mean age = 17.5 years). Regression analysis demonstrated that the personal and interpersonal variables were better predictors of adolescents' problems than were demographic variables. The best predictors were neuroticism (personal variable) and nurture of father (interpersonal variable).

The contribution of significant others to adolescents' self-esteem.

This research examined the developmental trends in the contribution of evaluations by significant others (mother, father, teacher, and friend) to the self-esteem of adolescents. The sample consisted of 399 adolescents divided into three age groups (mean age: 13.4, 15.5, and 17.5 years). Semantic-differential scales were used. An analysis of variance revealed that adolescents differed in their self-esteem with regard to sex and age: girls evaluated themselves more positively than did boys and younger adolescents more positively than the older ones. The hypothesis that the contribution of significant others becomes less important with increased age was not completely confirmed. The relative contribution of significant others' evaluations differed depending on age and sex of adolescent.