Abstract:
This study of middle-aged adults compared global self-esteem scores in the socioeconomic context, testing for self-esteem differences between the urban poor and the middle class. Self-esteem was measured using the Revised Self-Liking and Competence Scale (SLCS-R) presented by Tafarodi and Milne (2002). This study also explored the influences of the different socio-economic variables (sex, age, educational attainment and monthly income) to global self-esteem. Among the 247 overall respondents from the urban poor and the middle class communities, 10 urban poor respondents having high self-esteem and another 10 urban poor respondents having low self-esteem were interviewed. Analysis of results showed that global self-esteem was significantly higher among middle class adults (U=-4.648' at pc.05). The self-liking domain of self-esteem was not significantly different between the 2 socioeconomic groups, significant difference for the self-competence domain was obtained, with middle class significantly higher than the urban poor. The socio-economic variable that was found to be important for the urban poor’s self-esteem was educational attainment.
