Religion's Influence on Adolescent's Self-Esteem
Bowns, Diane M.; Malczyk, Benjamin R.; Dodge, Rachel; Day, Randal
Abstract
Self-esteem, or mattering, is important as it has been found to be positively related to things like perceived social support and school performance for adolescents (Elliott, Kao & Grant 2004). We wonder if an adolescent’s self-esteem is specifically affected by his religiosity. Plante and Boccaccini (1997) used the SCSORF Questionnaire and found that stronger faith promoted lighter interpersonal sensitivity, greater belief in personal control and higher self-esteem. Likewise, Ellison (1991) asserts that those with strong religiosity report higher self-esteem; yet Bahr and Martin (1983) report that there was little relationship between religiosity and self-esteem. In our study we test to see if self-esteem is one area in which religion manifests itself positively in the lives of adolescents. We hypothesize that religion will be positively correlated with self-esteem.