Abstract

      The present study hypothesized that a significant relationship exists between high-self esteem, high resilience, and an internal locus of control. A total of 98 participants from an undergraduate population at a small, midwestern university filled out a survey; 51 were men and 47 were women. A Pearson bivariate correlation was completed and a significant correlation between total self-esteem and resilience was found. An independent samples t-test was also conducted to analyze the possibility of significant differences between total self-esteem, total inner locus of control, and total outer locus of control scores; a statistically significant difference was detected. Results indicated that as self-esteem increases, so does resilience; furthermore, high-self esteem and resilience may be a predictor of an internal locus of control.

Keywords:   self-esteem, resiliency, locus of control, adversity, perception

      The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there is a relationship among the concepts of self-esteem, locus of control, and resilience within individuals. Historically, researchers found that neuroticism was highly correlated with introversion (Eysenck, 1970). These findings seemed puzzling to this author because it would seem that introverts tended to exert an inner locus of control more than their extraverted counterparts, thus indicating that they would be more emotionally stable, rather than less. By blending the concept of cognitions and perceptions, the present hypotheses grew into the conjecture that individuals who exhibit an inner locus of control would be more likely to have higher self-esteem than those who did not. Additionally, it would seem that self-esteem and perceived locus of control would be possibly related to traits of resilience. Each portion of the separate hypotheses will be discussed briefly in the following sections.

 Self-Esteem

      Perhaps one of the most familiar psychological concepts used in modern society is that of self-esteem (SE); there have been innumerable self-help books published, speeches delivered, and certainly, research conducted, in an attempt to understand it (e.g., McKay and Fanning, 2000; Newton, 2011; Baumeister, Smart, and Boden, 1996). Although there may be little question regarding its validity as a construct, widespread debate and exploration remains amongst professionals regarding its influences and overall definition. One conceptualization of self-esteem is the extent of "people's evaluations of their own self-worth - that is, the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent" (Sciangula & Morry, 2009, p. 144). Individuals with high self-esteem feel good about themselves and view their lives as worthwhile and feel a sense of self-respect, despite being aware of their personal flaws. Conversely, those with low self-esteem allow themselves to be ruled by their perceived weaknesses, in addition to their feelings of being inadequate, unworthy, and a general feeling of deficiency (Sciangula & Morry, 2009). In simple terms, self-esteem is defined as the overall summary of how a person feels about oneself; it can be conceptualized as a continuum that slightly fluctuates around a general area for each individual, depending on what sort of situations are encountered.

      While most researchers would agree that people tend to maintain a general self-attitude, some have examined the possibility of it being a multi-faceted concept. Some view self-esteem as a two-dimensional construct that consists of a sense of social worth that is accompanied by the feeling of personal efficacy and power (Ramsdal, 2008). In this study, the author draws an important conclusion relevant to the present study; self-concept is described as the balance of an individual's ideal goals and those that have been met. Ideally, one achieves goals, which helps to build a sense of high competence, which is related to the efficacy portion of self-esteem (Ramsdal, 2008).

      Moreover, another way that researchers have become more detailed in their definitions of self-esteem is the development of a distinction between direct and indirect measures of self-worth. Direct or explicit self-esteem (ESE) is conceptualized as the traditional measure of how an individual feels about themselves, but it has been criticized as being inaccurately reported and takes social awareness too much into consideration (Lebel, 2010). Implicit self-esteem (ISE) has been touted to be more effective in truly discerning these internal feelings because it uses introspection to separate actual associations about the self and the nature of whether they are good are bad. Additionally, individuals seem to misreport themselves less in ISE measures than in ESE and it seems as though it may be easier to help with research regarding depression, mental and physical health, anxiety, feedback sensitivity, or the universality of self-esteem (Lebel, 2010).

Resilience and Self-Esteem

      Although associated with self-esteem, feedback sensitivity, anxiety, and depression are all related to the concept of resilience, which is defined as the maintenance of positive attitude and adaptation despite an individual's experience with significant adversity or traumatic experience (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Stressful situations fully encompass the realms of abuse, neglect, war, life threats, sexual assault, and death, in addition to covering more mild life events such as failure, pressure, or striving for achievement. Naturally, individuals placed within threatening environments may experience anxiety, fear, or fall into depression. However, some people within these surroundings exhibit remarkable amounts of resilience and seem to be unscathed by what they have witnessed or lived. This strength in a person is thought to be produced by protective factors such as "good intelligence, good communication and problem-solving skills, the capacity to engage others in relationship... self-regulation in infancy, interpersonal awareness, the ability to plan,... determination to be different from abusive parents, and ego 'restriction' or 'overcontrol' (Eisold, 2003, p. 412)." Each of these tenets have been supported by multiple research efforts mentioned in Eisold's article (2003) and play a large role, particularly in children and young adults, in mediating the effects of a negative environment on the individual.

      Although mental and personality buffers seem to exist and positively correlate with the resiliency traits, it has been observed that self-esteem (SE) is also related to the amount of impact that anxiety-producing events and stimuli have on a person (Richardson, Ratner, & Zumbo, 2009; Brown, 2010; Ramsdal, 2008). In the Brown study (2010), it was shown that individuals with high self-esteem suffered less emotional distress than their lower-esteemed counterparts when faced with negative life events. Such results indicate quite simply that SE is correlated with the manner in which one may react to a situation; those who do not feel as secure in themselves would be inclined to feel threatened by negative feedback, while those who reported higher SE appeared to be less affected overall (Brown, 2010).

      Moreover, the concept of self-competence, which is defined as the way that an individual feels about his or her goals and accomplishments (Ramsdal, 2008), is yet another topic within research that bears mentioning. Although seemingly unrelated to self-esteem, is it actually quite similar, especially with the possibility of SE's two-dimensional facets of self-efficacy and power. It is asserted that high levels of perceived competency may be associated with being protected against potentially stressful situations or as a road to emotional instability and depression. If an individual assesses his or her goals and comes to the conclusion that they have achieved relevant goals, feelings of self-competence increase, which has been associated with a buffering effect against negative environments. Conversely, if there is a low feeling of self-competence, which could be extended to overall SE, a person may become more susceptible to anxiety or depression (Ramsdal, 2008). In another study conducted by Weber, Puskar, and Ren (2010) about rural adolescents and young adults, the collected data indicated that there is a strong correlations between depressive symptoms and low SE, while optimism was related to high SE.

      Finally, another concept that is very closely related to self-esteem is that of self-compassion (SC), which is defined as the ability for an individual to be okay with feelings of suffering and regard them with "warmth and concern" (Neff & McGehee, 2010, p. 226). This particular research has proposed that self-compassion is more effective than SE in maintaining positive cognitions and that it was very stable in preserving feelings of self-worth over long periods of time. More specifically, self-compassion was found to promote resilience among adolescents, as it offered the ability to cope with social pressures, feelings of self-consciousness, rumination, anger, and close-mindedness (Neff & McGehee, 2010). Taking into consideration the effect of self-concept in regards to negative feedback, it seems to be quite clear that there is a strong relationship between the two personality constructs. 

Locus of Control and Self-Esteem

      Although self-esteem has been shown to be highly correlated with measures of resilience, it would be almost negligent to overlook factors which seem to operate in tandem with SE; locus of control (LOC) is one in particular that seems to have a high positive correlation with SE. LOC is defined as "the extent to which someone believes that outcomes are based on his or her own actions or 'personal characteristics versus the degree to which person expect that the reinforcement or outcome is a function of chance, luck, or fate, is under control of powerful others, or is simply unpredictable'" (Wallace, Barry, Zeigler-Hill, & Green, 2012, pg. 213). Individuals who exhibit an internal locus of control have a tendency to believe that their lives are under their own control and that they are ultimately the masters of their own destiny. Conversely, those who have an external LOC may feel that their lives are dictated by randomness and luck, other individuals who are typically seen as possessing great control and power over the individual, or that their fates are completely unpredictable (Wallace, et al., 2012). It has been shown that individuals who have a high SE also tend to be associated an internal LOC and a negative correlation with depression and anxiety in adults, while those with low SE have exhibited an external LOC (Judge, Erez, & Bono, 2002; Wallace, et al., 2012; Simpson, Hillman, Crawford, & Overton, 2010). Overall, it appears as though a large area of self-esteem lies within perceived control over a situation and stressful events.

      Another study was conducted by Hames and Joiner (2012) measured the reactions of individuals with high and low self-esteem to positive self-statements, such as "I am a lovable person." Participants in the study were exposed to a failure stimuli and it was reported that those with low SE (the lower 15th percentile) reacted most negatively toward the criticism. A correlation was discovered between those with low SE who had been asked to write positive statements about themselves reported having lower self-esteem after completing the exercise. However, those with high SE reported increased scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)  afterwards. During analysis, it was found that the most effective self-esteem boosting activity for the individuals with low SE was that of writing about a favorite past time, instead of specific or non-specific statements. (Hames & Joiner, 2012). These results indicate that people with lower self-esteem tend to respond more favorably to statements that exhibit the orientation of an external locus of control. As would be expected, participants with high self-esteem reported higher measures on the RSES when writing about positive self-statements, which would be indicative of the presence of an inner LOC; furthermore, they did not respond as favorably to the other activities (Hames & Joiner, 2012).

      Despite the literature that has explicit and implicit support of the hypothesis that locus of control and self-esteem are interrelated, there is a presence of dissenting opinions regarding perceived control and self-efficacy. Ajzen (2002) draws inspiration from Bandura and other behaviorists for inspiration and influence upon his concept of perceived behavioral control or theory of planned behavior. Without delving too deeply into lengthy analysis, the theory describes the three tenets upon which human behavior is based: behavioral (consequences), normative (social expectations), and control beliefs (limitations or catalysts of behavior) (Ajzen, 2002). According to this particular researcher, locus of control is irrelevant in comparison to behavior; self-efficacy is conceptualized more as the person's belief that one may successfully behave in a manner that satisfies all three criteria mentioned above. More specifically, people's "concern is clearly with control over the behavior itself, not with control over outcomes or events" (Ajzen, 2002). Although these distinctions are necessary and helpful to make when determining the definitions of self-efficacy and other psychological constructs, it could be argued that these finite details do not particularly matter in the case of self-esteem or resiliency. Locus of control has been operationalized to function a sort of "blanket term" that could encompass the attitude that individuals hold about themselves, others, their fate, and any other concept, tangible or not. Within a smaller lens, Ajzen, Bandura, and other behaviorists are right to make such a distinction between an individual's cognitions regarding outcomes and actual behavior. However, in a more general sense, they are discussing the exact same tenets regarding LOC and are perhaps expanding the conception of the inner locus.

Locus of Control and Resilience

      As previously mentioned, external locus of control has been found to have a positive correlation between negative responses to threatening or stressful stimuli, such as aggression or depression (Wallace, et al., 2012; Richardson, et al., 2009). Most of the studies cited in literature have been conducted with consideration to traumatic life events such as abuse, sexual assault, etc. Few have examined closely the relationship between resilience personality traits and locus of control in regards to normal life stress. Leontopoulou (2006) decided to approach the less damaging side of resilience effects and examined coping strategies within Greek youth during the transitional period of time (a high school setting to university and being away from home). The results of the study indicated strong support for the multiple pieces of literature that assert that locus of control highly correlates with stress management, coping, and lack of emotional variability (neuroticism). It was stated that "internal control seemed to allow adolescents to 'actively deal' with stressful situations so that their adaptation increased with diversity... [it was suggested] that adaptation was a strong correlate of locus of inner control at high levels of adversity... [while at] low levels of internal control...the ability to adapt well was drastically reduced" (Leontopoulou, 2006). These findings support the hypothesis that the more control an individual perceives over a situation, he or she will approach situations in a calm, mentally-healthy manner and will adapt and eventually overcome. Similar studies (Abouserie, 1994; Diehl & Hay, 2010) showed similar results that indicated a significant positive correlation between external locus of control and higher stress levels; those who exhibited internal control reported less stress than their external counterparts. Additionally, the same study also demonstrated adequate significance between self-esteem and stress levels; individuals with higher SE stressed less than those with lower SE (Abouserie, 1994). In cases regarding actual traumatic experiences, being aligned with the perception of control over the present was associated most greatly with the ability to adapt to situations (Frazier, Keenan, Anders, Perera, Shallcross, & Hintz; 2011). The feeling of having control over a current environment would be, as expected, associated with a strong inner locus of control; focus on the past or future would be more indicative of external control beliefs.

Present Study

      The expansive amount of literature appears to support the current hypothesis that measures of an individual's self-esteem and locus of control would be indicative of his or her capacity for resilience. According to Judge and Bono (2001), an individual who has high SE is likely to view challenges as an opportunity for growth; however, those with low SE would view adversity with contempt or feel as though they will absolutely fail at the task. These attitudes, while related to resilient characteristics, are also pointing at locus of control. A person who has high self-esteem will likely hold internal control, thus giving them the feeling that they are able to successfully complete a task. Due to the connections demonstrated between SE and LOC in the literature, it is logically reasonable to expect that because high self-esteem is positively correlated with high measures of locus control, an person would also exhibit resilient characteristics; the opposite would also be highly likely (Judge, et al., 2002). Thus, the present study hypothesizes that there will be a positive correlation between measures of self-esteem and locus of control in conjunction with resilience. More specifically, an individual who self-reports high levels of self-esteem, as measured by Rosenberg, will also report similar scores of resilience, as measured by Wagnild and Young, and exhibit an internal locus of control, as measured by Levenson.

Method

Participants

      The study was conducted on a small midwestern college campus; individuals who chose to participate in the survey were of at least 18 years of age. The only participant-attribute question that was included in the survey was that of gender. There was a total of 98 participants; 51 men and 47 women who chose to fill out the questionnaire were chosen from introductory and required classes for graduation at the university, in addition to a few upper-level courses, dining halls, and dorm rooms. Individuals choosing to answer the survey were part of a convenience sample of undergraduate students. Data were collected in accordance with the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, 2010).

 Materials

      Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale has been in use since 1965 and is one of the most widely-used measures of global self-esteem; it comes in a variety of item levels, ranging from ten, six, and five. Each item response is scored with a negative or positive end of the spectrum (Richardson, et al., 2009). Participants select the amount with which they agree with certain statements about themselves; some of the items provided are, "I feel that I have a good number of qualities," and "All in all, I am inclined to feel I am a failure" (Rosenberg, 1989). Individuals who report a lower number on the scale are determined to have lower global self-esteem than those who had higher scores; the range of possible scores is ten through 40. The present version of the test has been adapted to include a seven-point Likert scale, for consistency and masking of the study's true purpose.

      Levenson Multidimensional Locus of Control Inventory. The Levenson measure was developed to measure levels of perceived control; the three modes of perception are Internal, Powerful Others (external), and Chance (external; Judge, et al., 2002). Some of the items included are, "Getting what I want requires pleasing those people above me," and "When I get what I want, it's usually because I worked hard for it" (Levenson, 1981). Individuals who report high agreement with the statements reflective of an Internal position are determined to exhibit an inner locus of control, which chiefly means that they feel that their lives are determined mainly by their own actions and decisions. The same principle applies to the other two orientations, which are rather self-explanatory. The present version of the test has been adapted to include a seven-point Likert scale so as to render more precise levels of inner or outer LOC; the lowest score is 23 and the highest is 161, but these numbers are insignificant to the actual psychometric quality of the test.

      Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale. The Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale was developed to measure an individual's ability to "bounce back" from stressful or traumatic life experiences. Responses are measured on a seven-point Likert scale, where lower scores indicate a lesser ability to recover from negative events and higher scores mean a person is more likely to recover quickly. Some of the items within the questionnaire are, "I feel proud that I have accomplished things in life," and "I am friends with myself" (Wagnild and Young, 1987). The present researcher added a few items to this portion of the survey in an attempt to mask the true purpose of the study; without the decoy questions, it is a 14-item measure, where the lowest score is 14 and the highest is 98.

Procedure

      Participants in this study were asked to fill out a short questionnaire that consisted of self-report measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and resilience. The only consistent conditions present were that the primary researcher explained to them that they must fill out the participation consent forms prior to answering the survey; she also included a debriefing statement for each session of data collection. Once all of the surveys have been entered into a statistical software program (SPSS), individuals will be separated into the following categories: Low SE (self-esteem), High SE, Inner LOC (locus of control), PO LOC (Powerful Others), C LOC (Chance), High Resil, and Low Resil. Results of the study should be easily replicated if the attached survey is distributed to a convenience sample of undergraduate students.

Results

      The present study hypothesized that individuals reporting high levels of self-esteem, as measured by Rosenberg, will also report similar scores of resilience, as measured by Wagnild and Young, and exhibit an internal locus of control, as measured by Levenson. Each section of the main question was broken down into two smaller, operationalized hypotheses to analyze better the possible relationships between each factor. The first, referred to as SE-R, compared total scores of self-esteem, as measured by Rosenberg, for correlation with total scores of resilience, as measured by Wagnild and Young. The second, referred to as SE-LOC, tested the possibility of a relationship between total self-esteem scores, as measured by Rosenberg, and total inner locus of control scores, as measured by Levenson. Overall descriptive statistics, according to Table 1, indicated that the majority of the participants reported mildly high levels of self esteem (Mean = 52.8, SD = 12.2), mildly high resilience scores (Mean = 81.7, SD = 12.2), and displayed high inner loci of control (Mean = 8.14, SD = 5.5) and a low external loci of control (Mean = -12.5, SD = 14.97). It is important to note that the interpretation of LOC scores is unlike most scales due to scores being both negative and positive. A six-point Likert scale was adapted for simplicity in administering the surveys, but the responses were re-coded so that 1 (strongly disagree) = -3, 2 (disagree) = -2,... 5 (agree) = +2, and 6 (strongly agree) = +3. Positive overall scores indicate a stronger tendency toward a particular locus, while negatives indicate a less strong tendency. Therefore, most individuals within the survey rejected the statements regarding external loci of control (powerful others and chance).

      The first hypothesis, SE-R, posits that high self-esteem scores, as measured by Rosenberg, will be correlated with high resilience scores, as measured by Wagnild and Young. A Pearson bivariate correlation was performed between total self-esteem scores and total resilience scores; this analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between self-esteem (Mean = 52.84, SD = 12.15) and resilience (Mean = 81.68, SD = 12.17), r(df = 96) = .766, p < .001. The result, as shown in Table 2, means that as self-esteem increases, so does resilience; the inverse is also true that if self-esteem decreases, so should resilience. Therefore, the SE-R hypothesis was supported.

Table 2

      The second hypothesis, SE-LOC, posited that high self-esteem scores, as measured by Rosenberg, will be related to the presence of an inner locus of control, as measured by Levenson. An independent samples t-test analysis comparing total self-esteem scores and inner and outer locus of control scores, as shown in Table 3, indicated that inner locus of control scores (Mean = 54.34, SD = 11.18) and external locus of control scores (Mean = 38.0, SD = 11.89) differed significantly, based on total self-esteem scores (Mean = 52.84, SD = 12.15), t(96), 4.157, p < 0.01. These results support the SE-LOC hypothesis that high self-esteem scores are related to the presence of a high inner locus of control. The converse may also be true that with decreased self-esteem, there is a significant relationship with the presence of an external locus of control.

Table 3

Discussion

      The present study's goal was to analyze the possible significant relationships between the factors of self-esteem, resilience, and locus of control. Statistical analyses were conducted  and  the main hypothesis that high self-esteem and resilience is associated with the presence of an inner locus of control was supported. Additionally, a two-tailed Person's bivariate correlation and an independent samples t-test yields the conclusion that the findings can be reversed; therefore, low self-esteem and resilience is associated with an external locus of control. These findings are consistent with the literature previously discussed in the beginning on this study and seems as though it has served as properly drawn connections between each concept.

      As with all studies, this one had several small problems that may have affected the data collected. The first limitation is that the survey had two formatting errors; one of the questions was missing the "7" in its Likert scale and another was split between a page break, thus making it difficult to answer. Several of the participants did not know what to do when answering these items, so they decided to not respond with anything. Another problem was that the order of the questions for each of the pre-established measures was changed; however, it may be possible that the order of items may have unintentionally lead respondents to answer differently. Furthermore, some statements, such as "I keep interested in things," from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Test, were reversed, which may have made the survey more confusing than necessary. Overall, most of these errors were characteristic of a first-time independent research project and are to be expected.

      Despite its flaws, the present study satisfactorily conducted an original, APA-style research project and was able to identify significant findings and strong support for its main hypothesis. One idea that may be helpful in future research is the incorporation of a different measure for self-esteem; implicit self-esteem may be a better way to measure cognitions and could indicate other factors that contribute to its relationship with resilience and locus of control. Furthermore, the implications of these findings may be extended past the topics discussed and be applied to areas that study crises of the self, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a host of other topics. This study has established a foundation upon which meaningful and highly flexible research can be conducted; it could be akin to a hallway with nothing but open doors on each side.

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