Contingencies Of Self-esteem In College Students:Measurement And Application

The research of contingent self-esteem is not as much as traditional self-esteem,producing some constructions which include overall contingency model(Deci),area specific contingencies model(Crocker),dynamic contingencies model(Jonhson)and theory construction by wang-lei in china.The area specific contingencies model that the positive self-feeling depends upon success or failure in area which self-esteem is staked is widely accepted at home and abroad.Although area specific contingencies model is confirmed by many researches,they have limites.On one hand,the contingency area is affected by cultural factors,it is proper to make up own scale in specific society rather than using foreign scales.On the other hand,the construct simply based on areas is complicated,it is necessary to build more abstract and simple construct to understand self-esteem contingency effectively.Basing on domain specific contingencies,the current research tries to explore another higher level structure of contingencies of self-worth called contingencies form.There are two contingencies form in persons' self-esteem system: result orientation contingencies and journey orientation contingencies.result orientation contingencies means specific result is necessary to mataining,protect and promote people's selfesteem,while journey orientation contingencies means people's self-esteem can be protected and promoted in the journey such as autonomy,challenge,hard work etc.There are two ways to confirm this construct.firstly,the theory should be constructed.Content analysis was used to form primary model theoretically and construct scale,using EFA to build the structure of Dual Form Self-esteem Contingencies,using CFA to confirm this construct,doing reliability and validity testing.Secondly,do some application research using the scale.Explore the relationship between contingencies and self-esteem level,insecurity using correlation analysis,regression analysis and variance analysis.In addition,explore the current state of contingencies of college students using variance analysis and cluster analysis.The conclusion of the current research as follows.(1)The college students' self-esteem not only contingent on four different domains that includes relation,evaluation,competent and appearance,but two major contingent form result orientation contingencies and journey orientation contingencies,that is to say,mataining state self-esteem through specific result and or journey of experience.(2)The scale called College Students Dual Form Contingencies of Self-esteem Scale was well constructed and has a good reliability & validity.(3)Two form contingencies of self-esteem has almost opposite effect to the development of self-esteem.Result orientation contingencies could hinder selfesteem development,while journey orientation contingencies could make selfesteem promote continuously.(4)Contingenties of self-esteem may influenced by age,gender and family structure,but the effect is limited,form contingencies may be learned.(5)College students could be divided into three groups on contingent form,the pattern of their form contingencies is significantly different.The first group(almost 70%)is the largest part called balanced contingencies.Their two contingencies form could transfer flexiblely based on specific circumstances.The second group(about 20%)called journey oriented tend to gain self-esteem from experience.The third group(about 10%)called result oriented tend to maintan self-esteem through some results,the person original research problem mentioned belongs to this kind.Current research could contribute to the contingent self-esteem theory,and provide healthy self-esteem cultivation methods for college students.