Concerns about girls’ low self-esteem have generated many social programs to enhance their psychological well-being. Yet few studies determine whether the influence of self-esteem is the same for women and men. Using the High School and Beyond, 1980 Sophomore Cohort Study, the author examines the relation between gender, adolescent self-esteem, and three outcomes: Educational status, occupational status, and income attainment. She finds a positive association between gender, self-esteem, and the socio-economic outcomes initially. Taking into account social context and individual-level factors, self-esteem in adolescence is not related to women’s socioeconomic achievements, but it continues to have a positive estimated effect on men’s occupational status and income attainment. However, the influence of self-esteem on men’s achievements is small in practical terms. The author suggests that adolescent girls and boys would be better served by social programs that explain how social structural arrangements contribute to gender inequality and encourage them to take part in social change.
American Association of University Women (AAUW). 1991. Shortchanging girls, shortchanging America: A call to action. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women .
3.
American Association of University Women (AAUW). 1994. Shortchanging girls, shortchanging America: Executive summary. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women .
4.
Bachman, Jerald G. 1982. Family relationships and self-esteem. In Social psychology of the self-concept, edited by M. Rosenberg and H. B. Kaplan. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson .
5.
Bachman, Jerald G., and Patrick M. O’Malley. 1980. The youth in transition series: A study of change and stability in young men . Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization1: 127-160 .
6.
Bae, Yupin, Susan Choy, Claire Geddes, Jennifer Sable, and Thomas Snyder. 2000. Trends in educational equity of girls and women. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics .
7.
Brutsaert, Herman. 1990. Changing sources of self-esteem among girls and boys in secondary schools . Urban Education24 (4): 432-436 .
8.
Bryk, Anthony S., Valerie E. Lee, and Peter B. Holland. 1993. Catholic schools and the common good. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
9.
Carmines, Edward G., and Richard A. Zeller. 1979. Reliability and validity assessment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
10.
Correll, Shelley. 2001. Gender and the career choice process: The role of biased self-assessments . American Journal of Sociology106 (6): 1691-1730 .
11.
Covington, Martin V. 2001. The science and politics of self-esteem: Schools caught in the middle. In Extending self-esteem theory and research, edited by T. Owens, S. Stryker, and N. Goodman. New York: Cambridge University Press .
12.
Dooley, David, and JoAnn Prause. 1997. Effect of students’ self-esteem on later employment status: Interactions of self-esteem with gender and race . Applied Psychology: An International Review46 (2): 175-198
13.
Elliott, Marta, and Toby L. Parcel. 1996. The determinants of young women’s wages: Comparing the effects of individual and occupational labor market characteristics . Social Science Research25: 240-259 .
14.
Farley, Reynolds. 1996. The new American reality: Who we are, how we got here, where we are going. New York: Russell Sage .
15.
Greenberg Lake Analysis Group. 1990. Expectations and aspirations: Gender roles and self-esteem. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women .
16.
Harter, Susan, Patricia L. Waters, Nancy R. Whitesel, and Diana Kastelic. 1998. Level of voice among female and male high school students: Relational context, support, and gender orientation . Developmental Psychology34 (5): 892-901 .
17.
Hill, Martha S., Wei-Jun J. Yeung, and Greg J. Duncan. 1996.Timing of childhoodevents and early-adult household formation. In Leaving home: Understanding the transition to adulthood, edited by J. Graber and J. S. Dubas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
18.
Inoue, Yukiko. 1999. The educational and occupational attainment process. New York: University Press of America .
19.
Kirkpatrick Johnson, Monica, Sabrina Oesterle, and Jeylan Mortimer. 2001. Adolescents’ anticipations of work-family conflict in a changing societal context. In Children at the millenium: Where have we come from, where are we going? edited by S. Hofferth and T. Owens. New York: Elsevier Science .
20.
Kleinfeld, Judith. 1999. Studentperformance: Males versus females . Public Interest134(Winter): 3-20 .
21.
Kling, Kristen C., Janet Shibley Hyde, Carolin J. Showers, and Brenda N. Buswell. 1999. Gender differences in self-esteem: A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin125 (4): 470-500 .
22.
Mahaffy, Kimberly A. 1999. When does gender matter? Explaining the transition to adulthood as a gendered process. Ph.D. diss., University of New Hampshire, Durham.
23.
Marsh, Herbert. 1991. Public, Catholic single-sex, and Catholic coeducational high schools: Their effects on achievement, affect, and behaviors . American Journal of Education99 (May): 320-356 .
24.
Martinez, Ruben, and Richard L. Dukes. 1991. Ethnic and gender differences in self-esteem . Youth and Society22 (3): 318-338 .
25.
McLeanTaylor, Jill, Carol Gilligan, and Amy M. Sullivan. 1995. Between Voice and Silence: Women and Girls, Race and Relationship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
26.
Mooney Marini, Margaret. 1978. The transition to adulthood: Sex differences in educational attainment and age at marriage . American Sociological Review43 (August): 483-507 .
27.
Mooney Marini, Margaret. 1980. Sex differences in the process of occupational attainment: A closer look . Social Science Research9: 307-361 .
28.
Mooney Marini, Margaret, and Pi-Ling Fan. 1997. The gender gap in earnings at career entry . American Sociological Review62 (August): 588-604 .
29.
Nam, Charles B., E. Walter Terrie, and Carl P. Schmertmann. 1994. Comparison of the 1980 updated Duncan and Nam-Powers occupational scores. Tallahassee: Florida State University .
30.
Nixon, Lucia A., and Michael D. Robinson. 1999. The educational attainment of young women: Role model effects of female high school faculty . Demography36 (2): 185-194 .
31.
Oates, Gary L. 1997. Self-esteem enhancement through fertility? Socioeconomic prospects, gender, and mutual influence . American Sociological Review62 (December): 965-973 .
32.
Orenstein, Peggy. 1994. School girls: Young women, self-esteem, and the confidence gap. New York: Anchor .
33.
Pipher, Mary. 1994. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. New York: Ballantine .
34.
Plotnick, Robert D. 1992. The effects of attitudes on teenage premarital pregnancy and its resolution . American Sociological Review57 (December): 800-811 .
35.
Porter, J. R., and R. E. Washington. 1993. Minorityidentity and self-esteem . Annual Review of Sociology19: 139-161 .
36.
Reskin, Barbara, and Irene Padavic. 1994. Women and men at work. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press .
37.
Rosenberg, Morris. 1989. Society and the adolescent self-image. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press .
38.
Rosenberg, Morris, Carrie Schoenbach, Carmi Schooler, and Florence Rosenberg. 1995. Global self-esteem and specific self-esteem: Different concepts, different outcomes . American Sociological Review60 (February): 141-156 .
39.
Sewell, William H., Robert M. Hauser, and Wendy C. Wolf. 1980. Sex, schooling, and occupational status . American Journal of Sociology86 (3): 551-583 .
40.
Spenner, Kenneth I., and Luther B. Otto. 1985. Work and self-concept: Selection and socialization in the early career . Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization5: 197-235 .
41.
Tashakkori, Abbas, and Vaida D. Thompson. 1991. Race differences in self-perception and locus of control during adolescence and early adulthood: Methodological implications . Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs117 (2): 135-152 .
42.
Tomas, Jose M., and Amparo Oliver. 1999. Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale: Two factors or method effects . Structural Equation Modeling6 (1): 84-98 .
43.
Waldfogel, Jane. 1995. The price of motherhood: Family status and women’s pay in young British cohort . Oxford Economic Papers47 (4): 584-610 .
44.
Wang, Li-Ya, Edward Kick, James Fraser, and Thomas Jerome Burns. 1999. Status attainment in America: The roles of locus of control and self-esteem in educational and occupational outcomes . Sociological Spectrum19: 281-298 .
