Timothy J. Owens

Advances in identity theory and research

Introduction The Editors. Part I: Sources of Identity. 1: The Me and the Not-Me: Positive and Negative Poles of Identity G.J. McCall. 2: Roots of Identity: Family Resemblances and Ascribed Traits K.J. Kiecolt, A. LoMascolo. 3: Identities and Behavior A.D. Cast. Part II: Identities and Social Structure. 4: The Political Self: Identity Resources for Radical Democracy P. Callero. 5: Identity and Inequality: Exploring Links between Self and Stratification Processes M.O. Hunt. 6: The Role of Self-Evaluation in Identity Salience and Commitment T.J. Owens, R. Serpe. Part III: Identities, Emotion, and Health. 7: Justice, Emotion, and Identity Theory J.E. Stets. 8: Feeling Good, Feeling Well: Identity, Emotion, and Health L.E. Francis. 9: Interaction, Emotion, and Collective Identities E.J. Lawler. 10: Using Identity Discrepancy Theory to Predict Psychological Distress K. Marcussen, M.D. Large. Part IV: Multiple Identities. 11: The Self, Multiple Identities and the Production of Mixed Emotions L. Smith-Lovin. 12: Personal Agency in the Accumulation of Multiple Role-Identities P.A. Thoits. 13: Relationships among Multiple Identities P.J. Burke. Final Commentary: A Peek Ahead S. Stryker.

Psychological Well-Being in the Early Life Course: Variations by Socioeconomic Status, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity

Our analysis focuses on the implications of social status characteristics for childrens psychological well-being. Drawing on social evaluation theories and stress-based explanations, we hypothesized that disadvantage cumulates across statuses (the double jeopardy hypothesis) and over time as children move into the adolescent years. To test this hypothesis, we estimated the independent and interactive effects of socioeconomic status, gender, and race/ethnicity on the latent growth curves for four outcomes, from preadolescence to early adolescence, using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth data set. Our results were consistent with the double jeopardy hypothesis for the interaction of race/ethnicity and poverty, but not for the other interactions we estimated. In the case of gender and poverty, the strength of the evidence for the double jeopardy hypothesis varied by outcome: evidence was more consistent for scholastic competence and self-esteem than for depression and hyperactivity. In the case of gender and race/ethnicity, our results consistently refuted the double jeopardy hypothesis.

Extending self-esteem theory and research : sociological and psychological currents

List of contributors Part I. The Frame: 1. The future of self-esteem: an introduction Timothy J. Owens and Sheldon Stryker 2. The self as social product and social force: Morris Rosenberg and the elaboration of a deceptively simple effect Gregory C. Elliot Part II. Conceptual and Methodological Issues: 3. Theorizing the relationship between self-esteem and identity Laurie H. Ervin and Sheldon Stryker 4. Measuring self-esteem: race, ethnicity, and gender considered Timothy J. Owens and Adam King 5. The self as a social force Viktor Gecas 6. Self-certainty and self-esteem Ron Wright Part III. Social and Life Course Contexts of Self-Esteem: 7. Self-esteem of children and adolescents David H. Demo 8. Failure of the dream: notes for a research program on self-esteem and failed identity in adulthood Norman Goodman 9. Self-esteem and work across the life course Carmi Schooler and Gary Oates 10. Comfort with the self Roberta G. Simmons Part IV. Self-Esteem and Social Inequalities: 11. Self-esteem and race Pamela Braboy Jackson and Sonia P. Lassiter 12. Gender and self-esteem: narrative and efficacy in the negotiation of structural factors Anne Statham and Katherine Rhoades 13. Bereavement and the loss of mattering Leonard I. Pearlin and Allen J. LeBlanc 14. Self-esteem and social inequality L. Edward Wells 15. Self-evaluation and stratification beliefs Matthew O. Hunt Part V. Self-Esteem and Social Problems: 16. The science and politics of self-esteem: schools caught in the middle Martin V. Covington 17. Self-esteem and deviant behavior: a critical review and theoretical integration Howard B. Kaplan 18. Low self-esteem people: a collective portrait Morris Rosenberg and Timothy J. Owens Index.

Bereavement and the Loss of Mattering

INTRODUCTION Mattering is an important, albeit overlooked, component of self-concept. First specified by Rosenberg and McCullough (1981), it is potentially a powerful analytic tool. Rosenberg and McCullough viewed it as having multiple dimensions. First, it is based on ones understanding that he or she is the object of anothers attentions. Individuals are not likely to harbor a sense of mattering to a person if they are not an object on whom that person focuses at least some attention. Moreover, in order for attention to contribute to the sense of mattering, the attention must be of a certain quality; specifically, it needs to convey the understanding that one is a valued and important object to the other. The sense of mattering is thus based on the individuals conviction that what he or she thinks, wants, or does is of salient concern to others. A third dimension of mattering, central to the analysis presented in this chapter, is ones perception that others depend on her or him for something needed or wanted. The recognition that another person depends on us can be, according to Rosenberg and McCullough, a powerful reinforcement of mattering. As we will detail, the sense of mattering that stems from the knowledge that the satisfaction of the vital needs of another person depends on our assistance is a pivotal source of mattering in the population being studied here. We will show that the loss of that source can have deleterious consequences.

The Role of Self-Esteem in Family Identity Salience and Commitment among Blacks, Latinos, and Whites

Despite well established, ongoing, and vigorous research programs in sociological investigations of self-esteem and identity, and the two areas natural kinship and common roots, the self-esteem and identity nexus has nevertheless failed to receive adequate theoretical and empirical attention (see Cast & Burke, 2002; Ervin & Stryker, 2001; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001; Owens & Aronson, 1999 for recent exceptions). In addition, whether considered individually or collectively, both areas have much work to do with respect to understanding the role of race and ethnicity as a cause and correlate of self-esteem and identity (see Hunt, Jackson, Powell, Steelman 2000).

Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: The Future of Self-Esteem: An Introduction

THE IMPORTANCE OF A MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISAPPROPRIATED CONCEPT The hypothesized link between the self-concept and various social problems has commanded a long-standing place in social and psychological theory as well as public discourse. Nowhere is this notion more strongly held than in the presumed relationship between self-esteem and various social and emotional difficulties, especially – though certainly not exclusively – with regard to youth problems (Smelser, 1989). It is not uncommon to hear parents, educators, politicians, and religious leaders blame school failure, delinquency, risky sexual behavior, impudence, drug and alcohol abuse, and more on childrens diminished self-esteems (California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility, 1990; Mecca, Smelser, & Vasconcellos, 1989). Indeed, shortly after President Clintons reelection, USA Today reported Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala as saying that, if she remained in the presidents cabinet, she would work to raise the self-esteem of the nations children. The typical discourse on the relationship between self-esteem and various social and emotional problems is twofold. Self-esteem, it is argued, safeguards people against the ill effects stemming from many of lifes problems. This premise assumes that people with high self-esteem, in contrast to those with low self-esteem, will behave in more socially acceptable and responsible ways, will somehow be more resilient to lifes vicissitudes, will generally display higher achievement in conventional pursuits, and will ultimately possess greater socioemotional well-being (Burns, 1979; Covington, 1992). This rationalist view of high self-esteem is deeply embedded in Western culture, but especially American.

Depressed mood and drinking occasions across high school: Comparing the reciprocal causal structures of a panel of boys and girls

Does adolescent depressed mood portend increased or decreased drinking? Is frequent drinking positively or negatively associated with emotional well-being? Do the dynamic relations between depression and drinking differ by gender? Using block-recursive structural equation models, we explore the reciprocal short-term effects (within time, t) and the cross-lagged medium-term effects (t +1 year) and long-term effects (t+2 years) of depressed mood and monthly drinking occasions. Data come from the high school waves of the Youth Development Study, a randomly selected panel of 1015 ninth graders followed to 12th grade. We found that for both genders, depressed mood consistently decreased short-term drinking in each grade measured. However, depression increased drinking for both genders in the medium-term but only for girls in the long-term. In the other direction, drinking tended to increase depression in the short-term only among ninth-grade boys and 12th-grade girls. Observed trends and differences in the magnitude of the reciprocal effects vary by gender, with drinking being especially deleterious to emotional well-being for boys early in high school (10th grade) but for girls on the cusp of the post-high school world (12th grade).

Self and Identity

Self and identity may be two of the most popular concepts in social psychology. Nearly every area of social psychology touches on some aspect of a persons self or identity, or on a groups identity. The most cursory glance at a librarys card catalog or a bookstores holdings show that self and identity have enormous popularity among academic researchers and the general public. The prominence of self and identity research in sociology and psychology traces first to Jamess (1890) original and incisive treatment followed by some early and important efforts by sociologists (Cooley, 1902; Thomas & Znaniecki, 1918) and philosophers (i.e., Mead, 1934). Still, thorough and empirically oriented work on self and identity did not flourish until sociologys post-World War II renaissance as a methodologically rigorous science (Martindale, 1981) and psychologys cognitive revolution in the 1950s (Gardner, 1985). Theory and research on self and identity, though nearly 60 years old by the 1950s, was still in its infancy, if the bulk of publications is any indication. This is especially true for identity. As the figures that follow show, journal articles, authored books, and dissertations with self or identity in their titles or abstracts grew exponentially from the 1950s to the present. According to PsycINFO (American Psychological Association, 2002),* 2,820 journal articles on the self were published from 1950 to 1959; 5,894 from 1960 to 1969; 18,706 during the 1970s; 38,096 during the 1980s; and a whopping 70,781 from 1990 to the present. With respect to identity, the 1950s saw 190 articles; the 1960s 687; the 1970s 2,268; the 1980s 5,029; and the 1990s to the present 11,166. Dissertations and books on self or identity also exploded during this time period. For dissertations on the self, 7,759 were approved between 1950 and 1979, with the number

Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: Index

List of contributors Part I. The Frame: 1. The future of self-esteem: an introduction Timothy J. Owens and Sheldon Stryker 2. The self as social product and social force: Morris Rosenberg and the elaboration of a deceptively simple effect Gregory C. Elliot Part II. Conceptual and Methodological Issues: 3. Theorizing the relationship between self-esteem and identity Laurie H. Ervin and Sheldon Stryker 4. Measuring self-esteem: race, ethnicity, and gender considered Timothy J. Owens and Adam King 5. The self as a social force Viktor Gecas 6. Self-certainty and self-esteem Ron Wright Part III. Social and Life Course Contexts of Self-Esteem: 7. Self-esteem of children and adolescents David H. Demo 8. Failure of the dream: notes for a research program on self-esteem and failed identity in adulthood Norman Goodman 9. Self-esteem and work across the life course Carmi Schooler and Gary Oates 10. Comfort with the self Roberta G. Simmons Part IV. Self-Esteem and Social Inequalities: 11. Self-esteem and race Pamela Braboy Jackson and Sonia P. Lassiter 12. Gender and self-esteem: narrative and efficacy in the negotiation of structural factors Anne Statham and Katherine Rhoades 13. Bereavement and the loss of mattering Leonard I. Pearlin and Allen J. LeBlanc 14. Self-esteem and social inequality L. Edward Wells 15. Self-evaluation and stratification beliefs Matthew O. Hunt Part V. Self-Esteem and Social Problems: 16. The science and politics of self-esteem: schools caught in the middle Martin V. Covington 17. Self-esteem and deviant behavior: a critical review and theoretical integration Howard B. Kaplan 18. Low self-esteem people: a collective portrait Morris Rosenberg and Timothy J. Owens Index.

Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: Frontmatter

List of contributors Part I. The Frame: 1. The future of self-esteem: an introduction Timothy J. Owens and Sheldon Stryker 2. The self as social product and social force: Morris Rosenberg and the elaboration of a deceptively simple effect Gregory C. Elliot Part II. Conceptual and Methodological Issues: 3. Theorizing the relationship between self-esteem and identity Laurie H. Ervin and Sheldon Stryker 4. Measuring self-esteem: race, ethnicity, and gender considered Timothy J. Owens and Adam King 5. The self as a social force Viktor Gecas 6. Self-certainty and self-esteem Ron Wright Part III. Social and Life Course Contexts of Self-Esteem: 7. Self-esteem of children and adolescents David H. Demo 8. Failure of the dream: notes for a research program on self-esteem and failed identity in adulthood Norman Goodman 9. Self-esteem and work across the life course Carmi Schooler and Gary Oates 10. Comfort with the self Roberta G. Simmons Part IV. Self-Esteem and Social Inequalities: 11. Self-esteem and race Pamela Braboy Jackson and Sonia P. Lassiter 12. Gender and self-esteem: narrative and efficacy in the negotiation of structural factors Anne Statham and Katherine Rhoades 13. Bereavement and the loss of mattering Leonard I. Pearlin and Allen J. LeBlanc 14. Self-esteem and social inequality L. Edward Wells 15. Self-evaluation and stratification beliefs Matthew O. Hunt Part V. Self-Esteem and Social Problems: 16. The science and politics of self-esteem: schools caught in the middle Martin V. Covington 17. Self-esteem and deviant behavior: a critical review and theoretical integration Howard B. Kaplan 18. Low self-esteem people: a collective portrait Morris Rosenberg and Timothy J. Owens Index.