Self-esteem patterns distinctive of groups of drug abusing and other dysfunctional adolescents

Self-report measures on seven scales representing four broad processes of self-esteem were used to contrast three groups of drug abusers (pretreatment, in-treatment, and posttreatment), two other groups of institutionalized dysfunctional youth, and a "normal" public school sample, all from a population of White middle-class suburban adolescents. Multivariate analysis of covariance with adjustment for age and sex was used to compare the dysfunctional groups with the normal group. Discrimination analysis portrayed the dimensions of self-esteem separating all the groups. Pretreatment and in-treatment drug abusers had significantly lower scores on all seven measures of self-esteem; posttreatment abusers did not show these decrements, but reported greater ease in sharing feelings than normals did. The learning disabled adoles reported a lower sense of well being and greater ease in sharing feelings. These outcomes suggest that low self-esteem is not a general consequence of personal dysfunction per se, and may play a causal role in drug abuse.