The development and validation of the Relational Self-Esteem Scale

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• The tripartite model of self includes personal, relational, and collective aspects.
• Self-worth can be derived from personal attributes, relationships, or group memberships.
• Existing measures lack a scale for relational self-esteem.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a scale measuring individual differences in relational self-esteem.
• To address the absence of a specific measure for relational self-esteem in psychological research.

Main Methods:

• Scale development for relational self-esteem.
• Validation using two samples of Chinese university students.
• Employed between and within-network approaches for construct validation.
• Utilized confirmatory factor analysis and reliability testing.

Main Results:

• The developed scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency reliability.
• Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit.
• The scale showed significant correlations with relevant theoretical constructs.
• Established construct validity within the nomological network.

Conclusions:

• The new scale effectively measures individual differences in relational self-esteem.
• The findings support the tripartite model of self and its components.
• The scale provides a valuable tool for future research on self-worth and relationships.