ADOLESCENTS PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT - THE ROLE OF ESTEEM ENHANCING AND ESTEEM THREATENING RELATIONSHIPS

Two studies investigated the relations among self-esteem enhancing and self-esteem threatening relationships, life stress, perceived social support, and psychological symptoms through the use of new measures of esteem enhancing and esteem threatening relationships. The studies in cluded samples of 257 college students and 208 high school students. P articipants selected the most helpful family member and friend and rat ed how their relationships with each of these persons enhanced and/or threatened their self-esteem in the previous four weeks. The esteem en hancement and threat measures were internally consistent and appeared to measure valid constructs that were separate from each other. Esteem threat was associated with psychological symptoms independent of stre ss, social support, and demographic variables cross-sectionally. Both esteem enhancement and esteem threat made independent contributions to predicting global self-esteem cross-sectionally and longitudinally, a fter controlling for initial levels of global self-esteem. These findi ngs suggest that esteem enhancement and esteem threat processes may he lp explain the differential effects of social support on adolescents' psychological adjustment.