An examination of the wording effect in the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale among culturally Chinese people. 2008

Chia-Huei Wu
Center for Research on Educational Evaluation and Development, National Taiwan Normal University. b88207071@ntu.edu.tw

Previous psychometric studies of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; 1965) have shown that items with positive and negative words tend to form 2 factors instead of a single factor for global self-esteem. Recent studies using confirmatory factor analysis have indicated that there is an additional method effect behind negatively worded items. However, researchers conducted these studies using Western participants. Because J. L. Farh and B. S. Cheng (1997) suggested that culturally Chinese people tend to exhibit a modesty bias in self-evaluation, especially on positively worded items, researchers may infer that a wording effect of positively worded items would be evident for culturally Chinese people. The author examined the wording effect in the RSES for culturally Chinese people by comparing different confirmatory factor models. The author analyzed data from 2 independent samples of students at the National Taiwan University (ns = 393, 441) and a national sample of juniors recruited from 140 universities and colleges in Taiwan in 2004 (n = 28,862). Results showed that in addition to a global factor for self-esteem, method effects of positively and negatively worded items should also be specified for a model fitting culturally Chinese people.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007802 Language A verbal or nonverbal means of communicating ideas or feelings. Dialect,Dialects,Languages
D008297 Male Males
D011581 Psychological Tests Standardized tests designed to measure abilities (as in intelligence, aptitude, and achievement tests) or to evaluate personality traits. Parenting Stress Index,Trier Social Stress Test,Trier Stress Test,Psychologic Tests,Psychological Test,Test, Psychological,Tests, Psychological,Index, Parenting Stress,Psychologic Test,Stress Index, Parenting,Stress Test, Trier,Test, Psychologic,Test, Trier Stress,Trier Stress Tests
D011594 Psychometrics Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures. Psychometric
D002681 China A country spanning from central Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Inner Mongolia,Manchuria,People's Republic of China,Sinkiang,Mainland China
D003466 Cultural Characteristics Those aspects or characteristics which identify a culture. Ethnic Boundary Maintenance,Boundary Maintenance, Ethnic,Boundary Maintenances, Ethnic,Characteristic, Cultural,Characteristics, Cultural,Cultural Characteristic,Ethnic Boundary Maintenances,Maintenance, Ethnic Boundary,Maintenances, Ethnic Boundary
D004651 Employment The state of being engaged in an activity or service for wages or salary. Employment Termination,Employment Status,Labor Force,Occupational Status,Status, Occupational,Underemployment,Labor Forces,Status, Employment,Termination, Employment
D005163 Factor Analysis, Statistical A set of statistical methods for analyzing the correlations among several variables in order to estimate the number of fundamental dimensions that underlie the observed data and to describe and measure those dimensions. It is used frequently in the development of scoring systems for rating scales and questionnaires. Analysis, Factor,Analysis, Statistical Factor,Factor Analysis,Statistical Factor Analysis,Analyses, Factor,Analyses, Statistical Factor,Factor Analyses,Factor Analyses, Statistical,Statistical Factor Analyses
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
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