Itsetunnon kehitys nuoruudesta aikuisuuteen ja siihen vaikuttavat tekijät : 26 vuoden seurantatutkimus ; The evolution of self-esteem from adolescence to adulthood and its determinants: 26-year follow-up study

Self-esteem can be regarded as an essential component of mental health. Research has also shown that self-esteem is associated with happiness and life satisfaction as well as other indicators of well-being, including educational attainment for example. Research on self-esteem and its development has traditionally focused on child and adolescent samples, but during the last decade studies have begun to shed light on the life-span development of self-esteem. Finnish studies on self-esteem employing life course approach are relatively scarce, however. The present study examines the developmental trajectory of self-esteem from adolescence to mid-adulthood and its correlates. The study is part of a larger research project called Stress, development and mental health, conducted in National Institute for Health and Welfare. The original target population included all Finnish-speaking ninth-grade pupils attending secondary school in the spring of 1983 in Tampere. In 1983, 2194 pupils completed a questionnaire during school hours. Participants in the 1983 baseline study have been followed up by postal questionnaires at ages 22 (n = 1656), 32 (n = 1471) and 42 (n = 1334). The results showed that in this study cohort self-esteem developed favorably from adolescence to adulthood: the growth was linear between ages 16 and 32, but it stopped thereafter. Males had a higher self-esteem throughout the study period, while the growth rate was faster among females. Better school achievement and higher parental socioeconomic status were associated with a high self-esteem in adolescence, although the association relating to parental socioeconomic status was explained by adolescent s school achievement. Parental divorce among females and daily smoking among males were associated with poorer self-esteem in adolescence. Daily smoking in adolescence predicted also slower self-esteem growth rate among males from adolescence to adulthood. Among females higher and increasing body mass index (BMI) was associated with lower and more slowly .