Adolescent self-esteem and locus of control: a longitudinal study of gender and age differences

The questions of whether self-esteem and locus of control change during the high school years, and whether gender differences exist in these variables were considered in this study. Participants consisted of 174 students who were ninth graders in 1989 and who were surveyed each spring for four years. Two-way ANOVAs were used to measure changes in self-esteem and locus of control over the four years as well as gender differences. A significant main effect for gender with lower self-esteem scores for girls was found. For locus of control, there was a significant main effect for grade and an interaction between grade and gender.