Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-110). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 18, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. Stephen Whitney. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Sociology, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Hollie Thomas, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 18, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The result from the writer’s last research showed that students from an English Medium of Instruction (EMI) school had a higher self-esteem level than those from a Chinese Medium of Instruction (CMI) school. This researcher provides a picture of the adolescents’ self-esteem development under the fine-tuned MOI policy at an EMI school in Hong Kong. The research focuses on the differences of students’ self-esteem level in form three and form six as well as the differences of female students’ and male students’ self-esteem level in these two forms respectively. Understanding female and male adolescents’ self-esteem development is very important for teachers as teachers play an important role in an adolescent’s life. Data collected from 119 secondary school students from an EMI school in Hong Kong. A questionnaire, Chinese Adolescent Self-Esteem Scale (CASES), was used to measure students’ self-esteem in seven domains: social, intellectual, family, physical, moral, appearance and general self-esteem. The findings showed adolescents’ self-esteem level varied. In particular, male students’ social self-esteem level and general self-esteem decreased while female students’ intellectual self-esteem, family self-esteem, appearance self-esteem and general self-esteem increased during adolescence. In terms of gender, male students in junior form perceived a higher intellectual self-esteem, appearance self-esteem and general self-esteem than female students in junior form. In contrast, female students in senior form had a higher social self-esteem, moral self-esteem, and family self-esteem than male students in senior form. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of feedback regarding personal and group performance on children's views of (a) themselves (e.g., state selfesteem), (b) their ingroup and outgroup (e.g., trait stereotyping), and (c) novel tasks (e.g., task liking). In addition, moderating effects of age and individual difference variables (self-esteem, conformity orientation, and entity/incremental theory of personality) on the relation between self and group views were examined. Theorists have offered differing accounts of the causal mechanisms that underlie relations between views of the self and social groups. Self-verification theorists have argued that perceptions of the self drive individuals' views of, and attitudes toward, their groups. In contrast, self-categorization theorists argue that membership in groups causes individuals to perceive themselves in ways that are consistent with perceptions or stereotypes of the group. However, membership in many social groups (e.g., gender, racial, ethnic groups) is not freely chosen. What happens when individuals' views of themselves differ from their perceptions of their ingroups or the prevailing stereotypes about their ingroups? To address this question, children (N = 120, ages 7-12) attending a summer school program were randomly assigned a novel social group membership. As in other research (e.g., Bigler, Jones, & Lobliner, 1997), teachers used the groups to label children and organize the classroom. Over the course of several weeks, children completed three novel tasks and received feedback indicating that their performance was either excellent or mediocre and their ingroup's performance was either excellent or mediocre. Thus, there were four conditions: personal performance excellent, group performance excellent (positive verifying); personal performance excellent, group performance mediocre (overachieving); personal performance mediocre, group performance excellent (underachieving); and personal performance mediocre, group performance mediocre (negative verifying). Effects of condition on self-perceptions, views of the tasks, and intergroup attitudes were then assessed. Results indicated effects of personal and group feedback on children's task evaluations, ingroup identification, and intergroup attitudes. There was stronger evidence for main effects of feedback type than for interaction effects of feedback consistency versus inconsistency. Results are discussed in light of self-categorization, selfverification, and optimal distinctiveness theories.

The aim of this study is to investigate if intensive facebook usage can lead to the development depressive symptoms among young adults. The study was conducted quantitatively by distributing 65 questionnaires to students at the University of Gävle. The questionnaires were composed to test the student’s levels of self-esteem, social comparison on facebook and facebook intensity. The data collected was analyzed using IBM SPSS 20 as an analysis tool for frequency descriptions. Using the social rank, social compensation and social comparison theories, theoretical conclusions were made to verify or de-verify the hypotheses.  The study found that facebook usage in itself does not cause depression Symptoms but rather creates a platform were individuals can compare each other thereby developing feelings of envy, social anxiety, jealousy, inadequacy and inferiority. It was also found that it is not easy to tell if facebook intensity lead to low self- Esteem or individuals with low Self-Esteem tend to have high facebook intensity. The study also found that the association between facebook usage and depressive symptoms was a bit different when it came to gender.  Through this study the author hopes to contribute to the knowledge needed by social workers and parents for understanding young adult’s usage of social media and the psychological impact created by intensive use of facebook. This knowledge could be used to help social workers and parents to monitor and encourage healthy usage of social media to avoid potential problems connected to social media such as addiction, depression, anxiety, bullying and unhealthy social comparisons.   Key words: Self-esteem, Depression, Social anxiety, Facebook, subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, Gävle, Social media, Gender.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences