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The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: a bifactor answer to a two-factor question?

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) is best understood as unidimensional. This study supports scoring all 10 items for a single global self-esteem score, confirming its structure.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychological Assessment
  • Psychometrics

Background:

  • The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) is widely used but its structural properties remain debated.
  • Specifically, there is ongoing discussion about whether RSES measures self-esteem as a single construct or as multidimensional (positive and negative).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the underlying structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES).
  • To determine if RSES is unidimensional or multidimensional, and to provide empirical evidence for its scoring.

Main Methods:

  • Employed confirmatory factor analysis to test four competing models: unidimensional, correlated two-factor, hierarchical, and bifactor.
  • Utilized a large sample of 3,862 high school students in the United Kingdom.
  • Evaluated model fit using item loadings, goodness-of-fit indices, reliability estimates, and correlations with self-efficacy.

Main Results:

  • The bifactor model provided the best fit to the data.
  • Results indicated that the positive and negative self-esteem factors function as grouping factors, not distinct latent constructs.
  • Evidence strongly supports the unidimensionality of the RSES.

Conclusions:

  • The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) should be interpreted as a unidimensional measure of global self-esteem.
  • The study recommends scoring all 10 items to obtain a single, overall self-esteem score.
  • This finding validates the traditional scoring method and clarifies the scale's psychometric properties.