Self Esteem and Self Confidence

In Black and White Adolescents

By Eugene Walton

One of the reasons we have such low expectations of those with low self esteem
and such high expectations of those with high self esteem is because of the
assumptions we make about the relationship between self esteem and self
confidence. There is the assumption that people who feel good about themselves
(high self esteem) also believe they can do what they want to do and achieve
what they want to achieve (self confidence). So, the theory goes, feeling good
about yourself goes hand-in-hand with feeilng you can get the job done.

While the self esteem phenomenon is presumed to work in the lives of all
adolescents, it is seen as particularly important in the lives of black adolescents.
This is reflected each time a black icon falls—there is general and widespread
grief for the loss of another role model for black youngsters…”just when they
need them most.” The reasons they need them “most” include the belief that
black youngsters are “further down” the self esteem scale than white youngsters
because their natural role models have deserted the inner city neighborhoods for
the suburbs. Having no flesh-to-flesh contact with meaningful role models, the
theory goes, black youngsters are left only with remote relationships with mass
media personalities for models. Whether it is for lack of role models or for other
reasons, including racism, the bottom line expectation for black adolescents is
that they have less self esteem and less self confidence than their white
counterparts.
An opportunity to test this hypothesis arose with the administration of a life
management skills questionnaire to 1,140 adolescents (ages 15-25) in a full-time
career development program. The study included sub-samples f 652 blacks and
175 whites. All participants were from “disadvantaged” backgrounds (mostly
school drop outs with no successful entrance into the job marker). Their identical
socio-economic status represented a rare opportunity to test for race as the main
factor without the research contamination that creeps in when the findings of
inner city blacks are compared to those of suburban whites.

To get an accurate fix on how black and white adolescents felt about themselves
(self esteem) and their faith in their ability to achieve their goals (self confidence)
we administered Morris Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale (1981), Leonard Pearlin’s
Mastery Scale (1981) and the Perception of Achievement Scale from the
Walton /Walton-Moss Life Management Skills Instrument (1994).

All of the items in the surveys consisted of statements with which the
respondents were asked if they Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree or Strongly
Disagree. Their responses were converted to numbers (1 for most negative
responses to 4 for most positive responses), summed and averaged.

The results for the measurement of self esteem using the Rosenberg Self Esteem
Scale were 3.1 for black adolescents and 3.2 for whites (out of a possible 4/0 with
a 2.5 midpoint)—a difference of .1 (which was not statistically significant). For all
practical purposes the black and white adolescents had the same relatively high
level of self esteem as measured by the instrument. A further comparison of their
responses to three individual items within the Rosenberg Scale is shown below.

“I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on equal

 plane with others.

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 44% 38%

Agree 40% 56%

Disagree 13% 7%

Strongly Disagree 3% -----

“I am able to do things as well as most other people.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 53 53%

Agree 39% 41%

Disagree 7% 5%

Strongly Disagree 1% 1%

“On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 58% 56%

Agree 33% 36%

Disagree 6% 7%

Strongly Disagree 1% 1%
The results for the measurement of self confidence using the Pearlin Mastery
Scale were 3.0 for black adolescents and 3.0 for whites (with a midpoint of 2.5).
They both had relatively high levels of self confidence in terms of their feeling of
being masters of their fates and in control of what happened to them. A
comparison of their responses to three individual items within the Pearlin Scale is
shown below.

“I have little control over the things that happen to me.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 13% 17%

Agree 22% 14%

Disagree 32% 49%

Strongly Disagree 33% 26%

“What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 71% 72%

Agree 21% 23%

Disagree 6% 3%

Strongly Disagree 2% 2%

“I can do just about anything I really set my mind to do.”

 Blacks Whites

Stronly Agree 77% 74%

Agree 16% 19%

Disagree 4% 6%

Strongly Disagree 3% 1%

The results for the measurement of self confidence using the Walton/Walton-
Moss Perception of Achievement Scale were 2.8 for blacks and 2.9 for whites—a
difference of .1 (again not statistically significant). Adolescents in both groups felt
less sure of their ability to achieve their goals than either their feelings about
themselves (self esteem) or their feelings about mastering their fates. A
comparison of their responses to three individual items in the Walton/Walton-
Moss Scale are shown below.

“I don’t think I can do what I want to do in life.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 12% 9%

Agree 19% 13%

Disagree 35% 40%

Strongly Disagree 34% 38%

”I think I can do what I want to do in life.”

Blacks Whites

Strongly Agree 27% 28%

Agree 36% 42%

Disagree 27% 23%

Strongly Disagree 10% 7%

The data from this survey demonstrates that there are not significant differences
in the levels of self esteem and self confidence between black and white
adolescents of the same socio-economic status. Both groups of youngsters had
relatively high self esteem and self confidence in spite of their so-called
“disadvantaged” backgrounds. The fact that all these adolescents were in full-
time career development training programs further suggests that their ambitions
and hunger for success may be more powerful determinants of their self esteem
and self confidence than their race.