Low Self-Esteem Is Related to Aggression, Antisocial Behavior, and Delinquency

TLDR

The study examines how self‑esteem, narcissism, and externalizing problems are interrelated. The study investigates the controversial link between global self‑esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. Across three studies, low self‑esteem was consistently and robustly associated with aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency, a relationship that held across self‑report, teacher, and parent ratings, across U.S.

Abstract

The present research explored the controversial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems. This relation held for measures of self-esteem and externalizing problems based on self-report, teachers' ratings, and parents' ratings, and for participants from different nationalities (United States and New Zealand) and age groups (adolescents and college students). Moreover, this relation held both cross-sectionally and longitudinally and after controlling for potential confounding variables such as supportive parenting, parent-child and peer relationships, achievement-test scores, socioeconomic status, and IQ. In addition, the effect of self-esteem on aggression was independent of narcissism, an important finding given recent claims that individuals who are narcissistic, not low in self-esteem, are aggressive. Discussion focuses on clarifying the relations among self-esteem, narcissism, and externalizing problems.