Relations of social support and self-esteem to problem behavior were investigated among 347 young adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, three models were evaluated: a mediational model in which social support is related indirectly to problem behavior via intervening effects on self-esteem, a mediated and direct effects model in which social support has a direct relation to problem behavior in addition to an indirect linkage via self-esteem, and a direct effects model in which the relation of social support to problem behavior is not mediated by self-esteem because of the lack of an independent effect of esteem on problem behavior. The best fitting model was the mediated and direct effects model. In general, social support and self-esteem predicted less involvement in problem behavior. However, after taking into account variance shared with a general self-esteem construct, unique variance in peer self-esteem predicted greater problem behavior.
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