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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
[Three types of self-esteem: its characteristic differences of contingency and contentment of sources of self-esteem]
Masaya Ito1, Naoki Kawasaki, Masahiro Kodama
1National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, Ogawahigashi, Kodaira 187-8533, Japan. masayait@ncnp.go.jp
Abstract:
Previous research and theory (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003) suggests that adaptive self-esteem stems from just being oneself, and is characterized by a sense of authenticity (SOA). Maladaptive self-esteem is derived from meeting external standards and social comparisons, and is characterized by a sense of superiority (SOS). Thus, the qualitative difference between SOA and SOS depends on the sources of self-esteem. We hypothesized that SOA is related to internal sources of self-esteem, while SOS is related to external sources. In order to control for covariance, global self-esteem was also examined in a questionnaire survey of self-esteem that was administered to 273 university students. The results of a partial correlation analysis showed that SOA was positively correlated with internal sources of self-esteem such as committed activities and efforts for self-development. In contrast, SOS was positively correlated with external sources of self-esteem such as approval from others and appearance. These results mainly support our hypotheses.
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