‘It's good for their self-esteem’: the substance beneath the label

Abstract

This paper provides an informed and critical understanding of the concept of self-esteem. It explores this psychological construct in relation to its use in adventure education and outdoor learning. Enhancing a participant's self-esteem is perceived to be fundamentally a good thing and is culturally linked to the Hahnian notion that implies outdoor education is good for character-building and more recently personal development. This paper suggests that the improvement of self-esteem has become a reified programme outcome as well as an argument for the value and importance of outdoor education programmes. In this paper I seek to address the often uncritical and at times evangelical claim that outdoor programmes enhance self-esteem. This paper looks at the development of self-esteem generally and then considers its appearance in the outdoor education literature. Aspects of this that relate to outdoor learning and adventure education include: development of the self, behaviour, disaffected young people, recent UK developments and common misconceptions regarding self-esteem. These are explored and their implications for practice and research are considered. The essence of this paper is that outdoor educators need to be more critical, informed and specific about exactly what it is they are trying to achieve, how their programmes are evaluated, particularly with outcomes that are related to potential changes in 'self' and how these changes are measured. RationaleThe purpose of this paper is to provide some substance beneath the self-esteem label; namely an informed and critical discussion and examination of the self-esteem concept as used in adventure education and outdoor learning. To this end I explore the psychological construct of self-esteem, and other similar terms, specifically in relation to their use in adventure education and outdoor learning. Enhancing a participant's self-esteem is perceived to be fundamentally a good thing and is culturally

Effects of a Developmental Adventure on the Self-Esteem of College Students

“…To date, a number of studies have focused specifically on the effects of ODA on self-esteem, although within these there have been “unsubstantiated claims” that outdoor learning will raise self-esteem (see Leather, 2012, p. 13). The results of these studies are contradictory and possibly influenced not only by the intervention model chosen, but also by the way that self-esteem was evaluated and conceptualized.…”

“…The RSE, for example, cannot measure the effect of adventure on the specific dimensions of self-esteem, and thus remains a subjective and somewhat vague indicator of global self-worth. According to Kristjánsson (2007) and Leather (2012), more precise or domain-specific self-esteem should be assessed to accurately describe the effects of ODA on distinct areas of the self.…”

“…Many concerns have been raised regarding the conceptualization and uni-dimensional measure of self-esteem (Butler & Gasson, 2005;Emler, 2001;Kristjánsson, 2007;Leather, 2012). The RSE, for example, cannot measure the effect of adventure on the specific dimensions of self-esteem, and thus remains a subjective and somewhat vague indicator of global self-worth.…”

“…According to Kristjánsson (2007) and Leather (2012), more precise or domain-specific selfesteem should be assessed to accurately describe the effects of ODA on distinct areas of the self.…”

Self-confidence at Workplace: Cognitive Agent Modeling and Analysis

“…The proposed temporal-casual model of workplace self-confidence is supported by several underlying theories such as the Two-Factor Self-Esteem Meaning Matrix [14,15], Conscious Competence [18,19], the Self-worth Model [16], A multidimensional, hierarchical model of selfconcept [50], and Constructions of self [51]. To model the temporal-casual of workplace selfconfidence, a number of important processes have been identified.…”