Anomia, self-esteem, and life satisfaction: interrelationships among three scales of well-being.

The extent to which anomia, self-esteem, and life satisfaction are conceptually distinct was studied by using factor analysis of the items from Srole's anomia scale, Rosenberg's scale of self-esteem, and the LSI-Z. The data came from interviews held with 1,332 older men living in nonmetropolitan areas of Iowa. The analysis demonstrated that, while the concepts of anomia and self-esteem are distinct, the domain of life satisfaction overlaps those of anomia and self-esteem. The representation of the five components of life satisfaction by the items of the LSI-Z is questioned, and caution in using the six-items version of Rosenberg's measure of self-esteem with older adults is suggested.