University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1980 The self-report inventory : development and validation of a multidimensional measure of the self-concept and sources of self-esteem. Edward Joseph O'Brien University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation O'Brien, Edward Joseph, "The es lf-report inventory : development and validation of a multidimensional measure of the self-concept and sources of self-esteem." (1980). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1525. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1525 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SELF -REPORT INVENTORY: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MEASURE OF THE SELF-CONCEPT AND SOURCES OF SELF-ESTEEM A Dissertation Presented By EDWARD JOSEPH O'BRIEN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 1980 Psychology Edward Joseph O'Brien 1980 © All Rights Reserved ii THE SELF REPORT INVENTORY: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A MULTIDIJ1ENSI0NAL MEASURE OF THE SELF CONCEPT AND SOURCES OF SELF-ESTEEM A Dissertation Presented By Edward Joseph O'Brien Approved as to style and content by: r Seymour Epstein, Chairperson of Committee > Alice H. Eagly, Member / ,j RonaM-K^ Hambleton, Memb|er^ \ Bonnie R. Strickland, Member 'Charles Clifton, Acting Chairperson Department of Psychology ABSTRACT The Self-Report Inventory: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure of the Self-Concept and Sources of Self-Esteem September 1980 Edward Joseph O'Brien, B.A. , University of Kansas M.S., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Seymour Epstein The Self-Report Inventory is a multidimensional measure of the self -concept. Development of this inventory has been guided by the the- oretical writings of Epstein and a number of ego analytic writers and by an integration of previous self-concept research. The present inventory represents an attempt to integrate this previous work into an instrument which allows for a systematic representation of certain crucial elements of the self-concept. A review of previous measures of the self-concept revealed that these measures suffer from the lack of integration between a coherent theoretical framework and corresponding measurement operations. All previous measures either failed to be based on a coherent theoretical framework or failed to consistently translate a theoretical framework into valid measurement operations. In some cases, previous measures have failed on both of the above counts. The development of the Self- Report Inventory has thus been concerned with the elaboration of theory and with the consistent application of measurement techniques which re- present and test the theoretical model. iv The Self-Report Inventory includes three sets of subscales. The first set of subscales is concerned with self-esteem. These subscales include a global self-esteem measure and measures of more narrowly de- fined "Sources of self-esteem": competence, lovability, likability, moral self -approval, personal power, self-control, body functioning and body appearance. Previous theory and research are reviewed which link each of these "Sources" with feelings of self-esteem. It is argued that, taken together, these sources can represent the majority of sig- nificant attributes that affect overall self-esteem. The second set of subscales includes a scale which attempts to measure subjects' tendencies to claim rare human perfections and to deny ubiquitous human weaknesses or problems. This measurement process fol- lows from previous social desirability research although the present theoretical model follows more from ego analytic writings. The third set of subscales concerns issues of identity and the in- tegration of the self-concept. Two subscales address these issues. The first subscale is concerned with notions of identity versus identity diffusion while the second subscale is concerned with a more behavioral level of organization in day-to-day life functioning. Construction of these subscales proceeded along both rational and empirical paths. Items were included only where perfect inter- judge agreement was achieved indicating that an item belonged in only one of the subscales. Empirical item analyses were based on three primary item selection criteria which: (1) maximized the internal consistency of the V subscales; maximized (2) the discriminativeness of the subscales frc•om one another; and (3) insured that the items selected were representative of the content domain specified by each subscale definition. Other more secondary criteria were concerned with: minimizing acquiescence re- sponse sets, minimizing the presence of any ceiling effects and minimiz- ing any spurious sex differences. Measures were developed to evaluate the internal consistency of subjects' responses to the inventory. These measures allowed the detec- tion of subjects whose responses should be considered to be of question- able validity. The subscales of the Self-Report Inventory were evaluated in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Exceptionally high levels of reliability were obtained with almost all reliability figures being over .80 and many being over .90, Validity studies examined the relationships between the Self- Report Inventory and other personality measures, personal background data, reports of various specific behaviors and indirect measures (e.g., signature size). Strong validational evidence was obtained for nearly all of the subscales of the inventory. Finally, further validational work was discussed along with suggestions for future research with this inventory. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW 1 Chapter I REVIEW OF PREVIOUS MEASURES OF SELF-ESTEEM 5 Phenoraenological Measures of Self-Esteem 5 Unidiraensional Trait Measures of Self-Esteera 10 Multidimensional Trait Theories and Measures of Self-Esteem 27 Overall Comments Regarding Previous Measures of Self-Esteem 36 II THEORY AND MEASUREMENT OF THE SELF -CONCEPT AND SELF-ESTEEM 38 Epstein's Self Theory 38 Basic Assumptions Underlying the Self-Report Inventory 47 The Self-Report Inventory (SRI): A Multidimensional Measure of the Self-Concept and Sources of Self-Esteem 51 Previous Versions of the Self -Report Inventory 69 Critical Evaluation and Revisions of SRI-II 78 Outline of Dissertation Research 81 III METHOD 82 Subjects 82 Procedures and Materials 83 IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 89 Item Selection Procedure 89 A Within-Subjects Measure of Internal Consistency .... 126 Test-Retest Reliability of SRI-III Subscales 132 Norms for SRI-III Subscales 135 Correlations Among SRI-III Subscales 135 Validity Studies 1^^ vii Chapter V SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 198 Construction of SRI-III subscales 198 Correlational Analyses of SRI-III Subscales 201 Validity Studies 203 Sex Differences 219 Directions for Future Research 222 FOOTNOTES 226 REFERENCES 227 APPENDICES 237 viii LIST OF TABLES 1. Frequency Distribution of Raw Scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale 14 2. Frequency Distribution of Raw Scores on the Eagly Self-Esteera Scale 18 3. Factor Analysis of Item Correlations from the Eagly Self-Esteera Scale 20 4. Summary of Factor Analysis of Tennessee Self-Concept Scale 32 5. Means, Standard Deviations and Split Half Reliabilities of SRI-II Subscales 73 6. Correlations Among SRI-II Subscales for Males and Females Separately 74 7. Results of Factor Analysis of Correlations Among SRI-II Subscales 75 8. Comparisons of Obese and Normative Female Subjects' Scores on the SRI-II 77 9. Global Self-Esteem Scale. Correlation of Items With Their Own lO-Item Subscale and With Other lO-Item SRI-III Subscales 93 10. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Global Self-Esteem Subscale 94 11. Competence Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales 95 12. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Competence Subscale 97 13. Lovability Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales 98 14. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Lovability Subscale 100 15. Likability Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales 101 16. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Likability Subscale • 103 17. Self-Control Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales 104 18. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Self-Control Subscale 105 19. Personal Power Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales 107 20. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Personal Power Subscale 10^ 21. Moral Self-Approval Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales .... 109 22. Descriptive Statistics for the lO-Item Moral Self-Approval Subscale ix 2 3. Body Appearance Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale and With Other SRI-III Subscales .... 112 24. Descriptive Statistics for the 10-Item Body Appearance Subscale 113 25. Body Functioning Subscale. Correlations of Items With Their Own Subscale