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The Effects of Self-Esteem on Adolescent Delinquency over Time: Is the Relationship Linear?

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The Psychological Well-being of East Asian Youth

Part of the book series: Quality of Life in Asia ((QLAS,volume 2))

Abstract

Previous studies and programs are mainly based on a premise that low self-esteem is a risk factor of delinquency, and a linear relationship between self-esteem and delinquency is suggested. When adolescents’ self-esteem is enhanced, their engagement in delinquency would be lowered. This study attempts to determine whether the relationship between self-esteem and delinquency is linear or not when taking both low and high self-esteem into consideration. The study analyzes the 1st, 4th, and 7th waves of survey data of the J3 cohort of the Taiwan Youth Project (TYP) with a random-effects Poisson model. Results show that the relationship between self-esteem and delinquency is nonlinear. Although this study does not find significant differences in types of delinquent behaviors and academic performance for adolescents with high self-esteem and those with low self-esteem, the results clearly show that high self-esteem is not a protective factor of delinquency as research usually assumes. The mechanisms leading to delinquency for adolescents with high self-esteem and low self-esteem need further investigation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In longitudinal studies, the items appear repeatedly. Perhaps, the meaning of items may be different due to the change of time. Additionally, different items may be measured in different time points for the same constructs. So, scores in different time points could not be put in a scale to do the comparison (Wang and Wu 2003). However, the Rasch model has the characteristics of interval scale and objectivity, and it also can put items of different time points in a scale to compare. Therefore, the Rasch model is an appropriate tool to deal with the different number and content of delinquency items in the repeated questionnaires in this model.

  2. 2.

    Youth participants’ age is calculated by the following formula: age = 2,000 – (1,911+ birth years) in the first wave.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Rd., Min-Hsiung, Chia-Yi, Taiwan

    Shu-Ping Tzeng

  2. Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, 128 Sec. 2 Academia Rd., Nankang, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan

    Chin-Chun Yi

Authors
  1. Shu-Ping Tzeng
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  2. Chin-Chun Yi
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Correspondence to Shu-Ping Tzeng .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.

    Chin-Chun Yi

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Tzeng, SP., Yi, CC. (2012). The Effects of Self-Esteem on Adolescent Delinquency over Time: Is the Relationship Linear?. In: Yi, CC. (eds) The Psychological Well-being of East Asian Youth. Quality of Life in Asia, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4081-5_12

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