Honors Projects

Abstract

Self-esteem is a widely-studied construct across many disciplines of social science. However, previous research regarding self-esteem and language barriers has focused primarily on children and adolescent populations, while much less research has examined this relationship among adults. The current study measures linguistic acculturation and self-esteem in both Latino and control adult samples. Hypothesis 1 states that participants in the Latino sample would report significantly lower self-esteem than the control sample. Hypothesis 2 states that linguistic acculturation levels in Spanish speaking Latinos would be positively correlated with self-esteem. Finally, a research question was addressed measuring the differences in self-esteem between foreign born and U.S. born Latino participants. Results partially supported hypothesis 2 by revealing a significant positive correlation (r= .38) between English skills and self-esteem in the Latino sample. Hypothesis 1 was not supported, and no differences in self-esteem were found between foreign and U.S. born Latino participants. The discussion highlights practical implications, limitations and future research needs.

Department

Psychology

Major

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Steve Jex

First Advisor Department

Psychology

Second Advisor

Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla

Second Advisor Department

Romance and Classical Studies

Publication Date

Fall 12-10-2017

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