Self Worth Case Study

Between 1999 and 2000, Crocker and Luhtanen collected information on the influences of self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth on academic, social, and financial problems experienced by college freshman. The purpose of this study was to see whether formerly collected data that linked low self-esteem to social and academic problems was factual or if these results merely indicated symptoms of low performance or achievement in areas of self-worth in which a person identifies with. The researchers hypothesized that a high, but insecure level of self-esteem based on specific areas in which self-worth is commonly based, such as family; competition, appearance; God’s love; academics; virtue; and approval, were related to academic, social, and

The strongest correlations when personality variable were taken into consideration where between appearance CSW and self-esteem (-.23), neuroticism (.28), and social desirability (-.25); God’s love CSW and SAT/ACT score (-.23); academics CSW and neuroticism (.22); and approval CSW and self-esteem (-.24), neuroticism (.25), GPA (.20), and SAT/ACT (.22). Additionally, the strongest correlations were found between academic problems and neuroticism (.27); as well as between social problems and self-esteem (-.39) and neuroticism

When presenting their hypotheses on contingencies of self-esteem and self-worth, Crocker and Luhtanen point out the importance of self-protection tendencies that allow for individuals to “achieve success and avoid failure” in areas that they place their self worth. The example of higher frequency of study time among individuals that base their self-worth on academics illustrates a self-protection behavior. Additionally, the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, which we will discuss in class, in relation to prior research about the self-determination theory is discussed. Extrinsically motivated behavior is associated with higher levels of effort, anxiety, and maladaptive coping when failure occurs, which is why the researchers hypothesize that basing ones self-worth of academic achievement will correlated to more academic