This study examined the association between 3 components of ethnic identity (exploration, resolution, and affirmation) and factors related to family, neighborhood, and individual characteristics. The purpose was to identity factors that are positively associated with adolescent ethnic identity among a sample of 187 Latino adolescents with a mean age of 14.61. The findings suggested that family ethnic socialization was directly associated with exploration and resolution, but not ethnic affirmation. Analyses with moderator variables suggested that associations between family ethnic socialization and ethnic affirmation varied based on parental behaviors and neighborhood characteristics. The results also suggested that ethnic affirmation, but not exploration or resolution, was positively associated with teacher reports of school performance.

This study examines the relationship between gender, acculturation, parenting, and adolescents' academic outcomes in Mexican-origin immigrant families. Self-report survey data were collected from adolescents attending three high schools in Los Angeles. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted on the 273 adolescents (M = 15.5) whose parents were both born in Mexico. Girls reported higher academic motivation and educational aspirations. Substantial support was found for the positive relationship between mothers' and fathers' behaviors (ability to help, monitoring, support) and adolescents' academic motivation. Substantial support was found for the relationship between mothers' and fathers' educational level, language spoken at home, and educational aspirations. Generation status was not related to the academic outcomes. Implications for researchers, practitioners, school personnel, and policy makers are discussed.

Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework, this study examined the roles of Latino adolescents’ reports of discrimination, neighborhood risk, parent-child conflict over culture, and parental support in relation to their self-esteem and depression. Analysis of self-report data from 383 ninth grade, Latino students from one Los Angeles high school was used to validate a Multigroup Structural Equation Model of self-esteem and depressive symptoms for boys and girls. As expected, self-esteem was negatively and significantly related to depressive symptoms, yet the influence of other factors were less clear. Five paths marked the influence of mothers’ and fathers’ interactions on youths’ outcomes, demonstrating a strong path from fathers’ support to adolescent self-esteem and differing paths from cultural conflict with mother and father to youth outcomes. Neighborhood risks were significantly related to boys’ and girls’ self-esteem and depressive symptoms, especially for boys. Societal discrimination was significantly related to youths’ reports of depressive symptoms yet not significantly related to self-esteem. Results are discussed in terms of applications for both practice and future research.

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Abstract:This study evaluated the factor structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) with a diverse sample of 1,248 European American, Latino, Armenian, and Iranian adolescents. Adolescents completed the 10-item RSES during school as part of a larger study on parental influences and academic outcomes. Findings suggested that method effects in the RSES are more strongly associated with negatively worded items across three diverse groups but also more pronounced among ethnic minority adolescents. Findings also suggested that accounting for method effects is necessary to avoid biased conclusions regarding cultural differences in selfesteem and how predictors are related to the RSES. Moreover, the two RSES factors (positive self-esteem and negative self-esteem) were differentially predicted by parenting behaviors and academic motivation. Substantive and methodological implications of these findings for crosscultural research on adolescent self-esteem are discussed.Keywords: bidimensional | Rosenberg | self-esteem | two-factor | construct validity | crosscultural validity | Adolescents Article:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factor structure and cross-cultural validity of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1989). Numerous studies employ the RSES to examine the etiology of self-esteem and how self-esteem relates to a variety of mental health, academic, or social outcomes (Farruggia, Chen, Greenberger, Demitrieva, & Macek, 2004). Despite evidence from factor analysis studies suggesting that the RSES is bidimensional (i.e., having two factors), researchers continue to treat the RSES as a unidimensional scale. A current debate centers on whether or not bidimensional findings demonstrate that the RSES assesses two substantively distinct elements related to self-esteem or result from method effects that occur due to the inclusion of positively and negatively worded items in the same scale. Furthermore, while the RSES is commonly used in studies of adolescents from diverse cultural and ethnic groups, few studies have evaluated the cross-cultural construct validity of the RSES.For cross-cultural researchers, the issue of possible method effects-particularly those that vary across cultural groups-has the potential to create bias when assessing self-esteem. That is, some cross-cultural comparisons of mean levels of self-esteem may be biased if the RSES produces different scores across groups due to method effects and not due to culturally meaningful differences in self-esteem (van de Vijer & Tanzer, 2004). Moreover, to the extent that two RSES-related subdimensions may have substantive meaning across cultures, the use of the full RSES unidimensional scale may lead to concluding that differences exist in predictors of selfesteem across cultures that are due to measurement artifacts and not cultural differences. Factor Structure and Dimensionality of the RSESA number of factor analysis studies have suggested that, rather than simply assessing a unidimensional positive self-evaluation construct...

Using symbolic interaction, we developed a research model that proposed adolescent perceptions of parental support and psychological control would be related to adolescent depressed mood directly and indirectly through self-esteem. We tested the model using selfreport questionnaire data from 161 adolescents living with both of their biological parents. To examine possible gender of adolescent differences, we tested two multigroup models separately for adolescents' perceptions of mothers' and fathers' parental behaviors. Both the fathers' and mothers' models yielded (a) direct paths from self-esteem to depressed mood (for boys and girls), psychological control to depressed mood (for boys) and (b) an indirect path from support to self-esteem to depressed mood (for girls and boys) and an indirect path from psychological control to self-esteem to depressed mood (for girls). In addition, in the fathers' model a significant direct path was found between fathers' support and depressed mood (for girls).

We examined whether Iranian American adolescents' perceptions of parental support, parental knowledge, and parental psychological control relate to general self-efficacy directly, and indirectly through positive esteem and self-deprecation. To investigate this, self-report surveys were collected from 158 Iranian American adolescents attending Iranian American youth groups, Armenian private school, and one public school. Results indicated that positive esteem, self-deprecation, mother and father knowledge, and mother and father psychological control were directly related to general self-efficacy. Furthermore, the parenting variables were indirectly related to general self-efficacy through either positive esteem or selfdeprecation.

This study used dominance analysis to examine the relative importance of ninth grade, Mexican-origin adolescents' perceptions of academic support from significant others (i.e., mothers, fathers, teachers, and friends) in relation to aspects of academic success. Self-report and school record data were collected from 216 Mexican-origin adolescents living in intact families. The results revealed that teachers' academic support was the most salient predictor of academic satisfaction and grade point average for both female and male students. Academic support from the opposite-sex parent explained the most variation in academic motivation. Academic support from friends was least important in explaining academic outcomes. Implications for schools and educators are presented.