The Developmental Trajectory of Self-Esteem in Japan : Age Differences in Self-Liking from Middle School Students to the Elderly

ニホン　ニ　オケル　ジソンシン　ノ　ハッタツテキ　ヘンカ　チュウガクセイ　カラ　コウレイシャ　ニ　オケル　ジココウイ　ノ　ネンレイサ　ノ　ケントウ

オギハラ, ユウジ

Ogihara, Yuji

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ タイジン シャカイ シンリガク ケンキュウシツ

自尊心

自尊感情

年齢差

発達

文化

self-liking

self-esteem

age differences

development

culture

The present research examined age differences in self-liking across a broad range of population, from middle school students to the elderly in their 60s in Japan. Previous research has indicated that levels of self-esteem are high in childhood, decrease in adolescence, but increase during adulthood in Japan. However, this is based on research using one-item measurement for self-liking, which may have relatively low reliability. Therefore, to increase the validity of the previous findings, we analyzed another dataset that measured self-liking among a broad range of the population in Japan. This dataset had large sample sizes for each generation and gender. Results showed that levels of self-esteem were low among adolescents, but inclined during adulthood, which is consistent with the previous findings. The current research contributes to a better understanding of how self-esteem changes across lifetime and providing an insight into when interventions might be particularly crucial.