Work-related motives and self-esteem in American women

Acknowledging the need for additional research on work-related motives and self-esteem in American women, this study investigated the hypothesis that women with a favorable self-esteem would score high in n Ach, in Pow, and n Auto, whereas women with a less favorable self-esteem would score high in n Aff, n Agg, and n Def. Eighty-five female college students completed Gough and Heilbrun's Adjective Check List and Form B of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Data were analyzed by means of chi square tests in conjunction with the coefficient of association asymmetric lambda. The results indicated that, as predicted, women with a favorable self-esteem scored high in n Ach (p less than .001) and n Pow (p less than .001), while contrary to expectation, they also scored high in n Aff (p less than .05). All other relationships were found to be nonreliable. These findings were interpreted as stressing the importance of the relationship between self-esteem and work-related motives in women.