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Is there gender bias in theshort‐form CoopersmithSelf‐Esteem Inventory?Revd Professor Leslie J. Francis a , D. J. James a & ManselJones ba Professor of Pastoral Theologyb Fellow at Trinity College Carmarthen , University of WalesLampeterPublished online: 09 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Revd Professor Leslie J. Francis , D. J. James & Mansel Jones (1998)Is there gender bias in the short‐form Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory? , EducationalResearch, 40:1, 83-89, DOI: 10.1080/0013188980400108

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Educational Research Volume 40 Number 1 Spring 1998 83

Short reports

Is there gender bias in the short-form Coopersmith Self-EsteemInventory?Revd Professor Leslie J. Francis, D. J. James Professor of Pastoral Theology andMansel Jones Fellow at Trinity College Carmarthen and University of WalesLampeter

Summary

The short-form Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was completed by 802 16-year-old pupils attending state-maintained schools in England. Overall, the boysrecorded a significantly higher score of self-esteem than the girls. Inspection ofthe individual scale items, however, indicated that, while boys were more likely toendorse ten of the items, another item was endorsed more frequently by girls. Itis argued that gender differences in overall scale scores reflect the proportion ofitems which discriminate in favour of either boys or girls.

Keywords: self-esteem, Coopersmith, gender, secondary school

Introduction

A number of commentators have wrestled with the problem of recorded sexdifferences in measures of global self-regard (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974; Wylie,1979; Skaalvik, 1986). Increasingly it has become recognized that recorded sexdifferences may have less to do with the differences between males and femalesand more to do with the implicit models of self-regard operationalized by themost frequently employed instruments. According to some measures, femalestend to record higher scores of self-regard, while according to other measuresmales tend to record higher scores of self-regard. For example, in a recent reviewof studies employing the Lipsitt Self Concept Scale (1958), Francis, Carter andJones (1995) demonstrated that females consistently record higher scores thanmales on this measure. On the other hand, in a recent review of studies employingthe Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, Francis (1996) demonstrated that malesconsistently recorded higher scores than females on this measure. A less clear

Address for correspondence: The Revd Professor Leslie J. Francis, Centre forTheology and Education, Trinity College, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire SA31 3EP.Tel: 01267 676804; Fax: 01267 676766.

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84 Educational Research Volume 40 Number 1 Spring 1998

pattern, however, seems to emerge in respect of the Coopersmith (1981) Self-Esteem Inventories.

In its original form, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was developed as a50-item instrument worded for children between the ages of eight and ten years.The instrument contained four subscales: 26 items concerned with global self-esteem, eight items concerned with social self and peers, eight items concernedwith home and parents and eight items concerned with school and academicmatters. There was also an eight-item lie scale (Coopersmith, 1959, 1967).Example items include: 'I often wish I were someone else', 'I find it very hard totalk in front of the class' and 'I'm a lot of fun to be with'. Each item is assessedon a two-point scale: like me and unlike me. Subsequently, Coopersmith (1981)published a short form of 25 items for use among school pupils and a 25 itemform for use among adults. Other researchers have also adapted the CoopersmithSelf-Esteem Inventory, describing scales of 70 items (Perkins and Shannon, 1965),54 items (Jaquish and Ripple, 1980), 43 items (Abadzi, 1984), 42 items (Zirkeland Moses, 1971), 28 items (Weinland, Gable andVarming, 1976), 23 items(Spilka and Mullin, 1977) and 20 items (Katz and Zigler, 1967). Since it is notclear precisely how individual instruments within this family of scales relate toeach other, attempts to synthesize findings from research using the CoopersmithSelf-Esteem Inventories may be wise to discuss the more generally employed instru-ments separately and to discount findings derived from the less frequentlyemployed instruments.

Studies employing the original 50-item scale among school pupils have gener-ally failed to find significant differences between the mean scores of boys and themean scores of girls. Such studies have been conducted in Australia (Smith, 1978;Craske, 1988), the Caribbean (Richardson, 1987) and India (Rao, 1978; Sethiand Calhoun, 1986), as well as in the USA (Coopersmith, 1967; Mikesell,Calhoun and Lottman, 1970; Simon and Bernstein, 1971; Simon, 1972; Trow-bridge, 1972; Simon and Simon, 1975; Drummond and Mclntyre, 1977; Drum-mond, Mclntyre and Ryan, 1977; Wallace, Cunningham and del Monte, 1984).On the other hand, using the same 50-item instrument, some studies in Canada(Cowan, Altmann and Pysh, 1978) and the USA (Seidner, 1978; Scruggs andMastropeiri, 1983) have reported significantly higher scores among boys, whileanother study in the USA (Primavera, Simon and Primavera, 1974) reported sig-nificantly higher scores among girls.

Studies employing the 25-item scale among school pupils have also generallyfailed to find significant differences between the mean scores of boys and themean scores of girls. Such studies have been conducted in Australia (Smith et al,1973), as well as in the USA (Prawat, 1976; Prawat, Grissom and Parish, 1979;Hanes, Prawat and Grissom, 1979; Gill and Thornton, 1989; Workman and Beer,1989). On the other hand, using the same 25-item instrument, boys have beenfound to record significantly higher scores than girls by studies in the Philippines(Watkins, 1982) and in the USA (Robinson-Awana, Kehle and Jenson, 1986).

Studies employing modified forms of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventoriesamong school pupils have found more mixed results. No sex differences werefound by Lekarczyk and Hill (1969) in the USA or by Keltikangas-Jarvinen(1992) in Finland. Weinland, Gable and Varming (1976) found that boysrecorded higher scores than girls in Denmark, but that girls recorded higherscores than boys in the USA. Jaquish and Ripple (1980) found that amongpreadolescents in the USA there were no differences between boys and girls, butamong adolescents girls recorded higher scores than boys.

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Short reports 85

Considerably less information is available on the 25-item adult form of thescale. Some studies among students in the USA have failed to find any significantdifferences between the scores of males and females, including Bedeian andZmud (1977), Bedeian, Teague and Zmud (1977) and Coopersmith (1981).Other studies conducted with the same instrument in the USA have reported thatmales record significantly higher scores than females, both among students(Marron and Kayson, 1984; Watson et al, 1985; Joubert, 1991) and teachers(Beer, 1987).

Against this background, the aim of the present study is to examine whetherthere are significant sex differences in the scores recorded on the short form ofthe school version of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory among secondaryschool pupils in England, and if so whether such differences can be attributed tospecific items within the scale.

Method

The 25-item short form of the school version of the Coopersmith Self-EsteemInventory (Coopersmith, 1981) was completed by 802 16-year-old pupils withinstate-maintained secondary schools in England. The sample comprised 314 boysand 488 girls. The data were analysed by the SPSS statistical package, using thereliability, breakdown and cross-tabulation routines (SPSS Inc., 1988).

Results

Table 1 presents the item rest of test correlations for each of the 25-items of theCoopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory for males and females separately, together withthe alpha coefficients (Cronbach, 1951). These statistics indicate that the scaleperforms satisfactorily among both sexes of 16-year-old pupils in England andthat the scale achieves identical alpha coefficients among males and females. Onthis 25-item scale, the boys recorded a mean score of 17.0 (sd, 4.4), while thegirls recorded a mean score of 15.8 (sd, 4.6). The boys recorded a significantlyhigher self-esteem than the girls (F = 12.1, P < 0.001). Table 2 therefore pro-ceeds to examine the individual item endorsement by males and females. Thesestatistics indicate that 11 of the 25-items distinguish between the responses ofboys and girls, while 14 of the items do not.

Looking at the negative items, girls are more likely to agree with the followingstatements: 'I often wish I were someone else', 'There are lots of things aboutmyself I'd change if I could', 'I get upset easily at home', 'I give in very easily','Things are all mixed up in my life', 'I have a low opinion of myself, 'There aretimes when I would like to leave home', and 'I am not as nice-looking as mostpeople'. Looking at the positive items, girls are less likely to agree with the follow-ing statements: 'I can make up my mind without too much trouble' and 'Thingsusually don't bother me'. There is one item, however, which discriminates infavour of girls. Girls are less likely to agree with the following negative statement:'I usually feel as if my parents are pushing me.'

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86

TABLE 1

Educational Research Volume

Item rest of text correlations, males and

40 Number

females

Males r

1 Spring 1998

Females r

I often wish I were someone else*I find it very hard to talk in front of the class*There are lots of things about myself I'd change if I could*I can make up my mind without too much troubleI get upset easily at home*I'm a lot of fun to be withIt takes me a long time to get used to anything new*I'm popular with kids my own ageMy parents usually consider my feelingsI give in very easily*My parents expect too much of me*It's pretty tough to be me*Things are all mixed up in my life*Kids usually follow my ideasI have a low opinion of myself*There are many times when I'd like to leave home*I often feel upset in school*I'm not as nice looking as most people*If I have something to say, I usually say itMy parents understand meMost people are better liked than I am*I usually feel as if my parents are pushing me*I often get discouraged in school*Things usually don't bother meI can't be depended on*

Alpha coefficient

0.24230.19610.41620.23740.34620.26100.29210.25460.26150.25130.37820.29610.45790.16900.43520.34640.33510.37420.16400.34390.36540.28050.38150.18580.2295

0.37630.23690.39940.30220.36880.29910.30530.25120.27770.18110.33450.26850.45350.10090.41060.32150.32030.33010.21670.34820.35190.33090.38240.25330.1475

0.7698 0.7733

* These items are reverse scored.

Conclusion

While there is some consensus that males tend to record higher scores thanfemales on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and that females tend to record higherscores than males on the Lipsitt Self-Concept Scale, the international literatureregarding gender differences on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories is muchless certain. The majority of studies which test for sex differences on the Cooper-smith Self-Esteem Inventories fail to find any significant differences between thescores of males and females. Those studies which report significant sex differ-ences, however, are more likely to find higher scores among males than amongfemales, although some studies clearly find higher scores among females thanamong males.

The findings from the present study add further weight to the view that malesrecord a higher mean score than females on the short form of the school versionof the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. This study goes beyond previousresearch by suggesting that this difference in scores between the sexes can beattributed to specific items. Moreover, while ten items discriminate in favour ofmales recording a higher self-esteem score, one item clearly discriminates infavour of females recording a higher self-esteem score. Before confidence can beplaced in these findings, this form of analysis needs to be replicated among other

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Short reports

TABLE 2 Item endorsement, males and females

Malesr

Femalesr X2

87

P<

I often wish I were someone else*I find it very hard to talk in front of the class*There are lots of things about myself I'd change

if I could*I can make up my mind without too much troubleI get upset easily at home*I'm a lot of fun to be withIt takes me a long time to get used to anything new*I'm popular with kids my own ageMy parents usually consider my feelingsI give in very easily*My parents expect too much of me*It's pretty tough to be me*Things are all mixed up in my life*Kids usually follow my ideasI have a low opinion of myself*There are many times when I'd like to leave home*I often feel upset in school*I'm not as nice looking as most people*If I have something to say, I usually say itMy parents understand meMost people are better liked than I am*I usually feel as if my parents are pushing me*I often get discouraged in school*Things usually don't bother meI can't be depended on*

32.259.2

50.083.125.877.727.780.668.227.135.733.829.344.923.635.023.942.478.369.134.446.535.772.015.3

40.463.9

59.667.043.282.032.284.273.639.531.632.637.741.830.345.126.258.273.868.636.336.538.953.511.3

5.51.8

7.225.325.1

2.21.81.82.7

13.11.50.16.00.74.48.00.5

19.22.20.00.38.00.9

27.42.7

0.05NS

0.010.0010.001NSNSNSNS

0.001NSNS0.05NS0.050.01NS

0.001NSNSNS0.01NS

0.001NS

* These items are reverse scored.

age groups and in other cultures. However, if some aspects of self-esteem aremore prevalent among females than among males, while other aspects of self-esteem are more prevalent among males than among females, measures whichpurport to assess global self-esteem might be wiser to ensure that the specificcomponents of self-esteem which discriminate between the sexes are more evenlybalanced among the total number of scale items.

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