THE ROLE OF SELF-PERCEIVED USEFULNESS AND COMPETENCE IN THE SELF-ESTEEM OF ELDERLY ADULTS - CONFIRMATORY FACTOR-ANALYSES OF THE BACHMAN REVISION OF ROSENBERGS SELF-ESTEEM SCALE

This article reports on a confirmatory analytic study of the Bachman r evision (1970) of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (1965) that was used i n the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA). Participants com prised 1,087 elderly people aged between 70 and 103 years (mean 77 yea rs). Five competing factor models were tested with LISREL8. The best-f itting model was a nested one, with a General Self-esteem second-order factor and two first-order factors, Positive Self-regard and Usefulne ss/Competence. This model was validated with data from a later wave of ALSA. Usefulness and competence have received little attention in the gerontological literature to date. Preliminary results indicate that usefulness/competence may be an important predictor of well-being. Fur ther work is required on the relationships among usefulness, competenc e, self-esteem, and well-being in elderly people.