Contingencies of self-worth in college students: theory and measurement

J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Nov;85(5):894-908. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.894.

Abstract

The Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale assesses 7 sources of self-esteem in college students: academics, appearance, approval from others, competition, family support, God's love, and virtue. In confirmatory factor analyses on data from 1,418 college students, a 7-factor model fit to the data acceptably well and significantly better than several plausible alternative models. The subscales all have high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, are distinct from other personality measures, and have a simplex structure arrayed on a continuum from external to internal sources of self-esteem. Contingencies of self-worth assessed prior to college predicted how students spent their time during their 1st year of college.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control*
  • Male
  • Models, Statistical
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychological Theory
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Self Concept*
  • Social Values
  • Students / psychology*