Self-esteem: Assessing measurement equivalence in a multiethnic sample of youth

Global self-worth and five domains of self-esteem (scholastic competence, athletic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, social acceptance) were tested for measurement equivalence in a sample of Anglo American, Mexican American, African American, and Native American youth aged 9 through 14 years. The results revealed that global self-worth and scholastic competence showed strong factorial invariance in all groups, and the remaining self-esteem domains showed strong factorial invariance in some of the groups. Functional equivalence analyses revealed that the relations between self-esteem and two developmental outcome variables, conduct disorder and attitudes toward substance use, were similar in groups in which strong factorial invariance was established. Implications for multiethnic studies and self-esteem research are discussed.