Bachman J G, O'Malley P M
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1977 Jun;35(6):365-80. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.35.6.365.
This paper analyzes relationships among self-esteem, educational attainment, and occupational status. Data from a nationwide longitudinal study of more than 1600 young men show a substantial increase in self-esteem between 19TT (when respondents were beginning tenth grade) and 1974. Reliability and construct validity data for the self-esteem measure are reported. As expected, both educational attainment and occupational status are correlated with self-esteem. Contrary to expectations, educational attainment as of 1974 is more strongly correlated with tenth grade self-esteem than with 1974 self-esteem. A path analysis led to these conclusions: (a) Self-esteem during high school has little or no direct causal impact on later educational and occupational attainment; self-esteem and attainment are correlated primarily because of shared prior causes including family background, ability, and scholastic performance. (b) Occupational status has a direct positive impact on self-esteem. (c) Post high school educational attainment has no direct impact on self-esteem and only a trivial indirect impact via occupational status. Additional findings indicate that factors associated with educational success become less central to the self-evaluations of young men during late high school and the years thereafter.
本文分析了自尊、教育程度和职业地位之间的关系。一项针对1600多名年轻男性的全国性纵向研究数据显示，在19TT（即受访者开始十年级时）至1974年期间，自尊有显著提升。报告了自尊测量的信度和结构效度数据。正如预期的那样，教育程度和职业地位都与自尊相关。与预期相反的是，1974年的教育程度与十年级时的自尊相关性比与1974年时的自尊更强。路径分析得出了以下结论：（a）高中时期的自尊对后来的教育和职业成就几乎没有直接因果影响；自尊和成就相关主要是因为包括家庭背景、能力和学业成绩在内的共同先前因素。（b）职业地位对自尊有直接的积极影响。（c）高中毕业后的教育程度对自尊没有直接影响，仅通过职业地位有微不足道的间接影响。其他研究结果表明，与教育成功相关的因素在高中后期及之后的岁月里，对年轻男性自我评价的核心程度降低。
