The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Achievement 195

over adolescence (Biro et al., 2006), which may

explain why the meta-analytic review showed

that the sex difference in self-esteem was not

significant among Black samples (Kling et al.,

1999). A meta-analysis that focused on eth-

nicity showed that the sex difference in self-

esteem is larger for Whites than other ethnic

groups (Twenge & Crocker, 2002).

What are some of the reasons that fe-

males, especially adolescent White females,

have lower self-esteem than males? One rea-

son is that these girls have less favorable atti-

tudes than boys toward their gender role. We

saw in Chapter 2 that girls were more likely

than boys to want to become the other sex

and that boys viewed changing their sex as a

negative event, whereas girls viewed chang-

ing their sex as more of an opportunity. A

second reason for girls’ lower self-esteem

compared to boys is girls’ greater emphasis

on popularity and increased contact with the

opposite sex. Girls, in particular Caucasian

girls, place a greater value on popularity than

boys do. Being concerned with how others

view oneself leads to a fragile self-esteem, be-

cause one’s self-worth is dependent on how

one is viewed by others at any given moment.

In a study of eleventh and twelfth graders,

girls’ self-esteem was positively correlated

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ Women are more responsive to evaluative feedback

than men—meaning that they use it to make infer-

ences about their abilities.

■ One reason that women are more responsive to feedback

is that they view the information as more accurate—as

more informative of their abilities.

■ Men may discount negative feedback in an effort to

protect their self-esteem.

Self-Esteem

Does a lack of self-confidence and a greater

responsiveness to evaluative feedback reflect

a lower level of self-esteem on the part of

women? A meta-analysis of sex comparisons

in self-esteem found a small difference in

favor of males (d=+.21; Kling et al., 1999).

However, effect sizes varied greatly by age,

with the largest sex difference emerging dur-

ing adolescence (d=+.33 for 15- to 18-year-

olds). Effect sizes were smaller for younger

and older respondents. A more recent study

showed that sex differences in self-esteem

emerged in grades 8 through 10, as shown in

Figure 6.7 (Heaven & Ciarrochi, 2008).

Is the sex difference in self-esteem

among adolescents due to a decrease in fe-

males’ self-esteem or an increase in males’

self-esteem? One review article concluded

that both boys’ and girls’ self-esteem de-

creases during early adolescence but that

boys’ self-esteem rebounds and shows a

large increase during high school compared

to girls (Twenge & Campbell, 2001). The

previous study (Figure 6.7) seemed to show

some fluctuation in boys’ self-esteem and

a steady deterioration in girls’ self-esteem.

A comparison of White and Black girls

showed that Black girls’ self-esteem is less

likely than White girls’ self-esteem to decline

FIGURE 6.7 Sex differences in self-esteem

emerge in 8th grade.

Source: Adapted from Heaven and Ciarrochi (2008).

7

4

Self-Esteem 6

8

12

8

Grade

910

(^10) Male
Female
n.s. ∗ ∗ ∗
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