Self-evaluated self-esteem, peer-evaluated self-esteem, and defensive egotism as predictors of adolescents' participation in bullying situations

Three dimensions of self-esteem (SE) (self-evaluated, peer-evaluated, defen sive egotism) were related to each other and to adolescents' social behavio r rn addition to exploring links between single variables, five SE profiles were formed by means of a cluster analysis and connected to adolescents' b ehavior in situations of bullying Self- and peer-evaluated SEs were signifi cantly correlated, whereas defensive egotism was not connected to either se lf- or peer-evaluated SE. Adolescents' SE profiles were associated with the ir behavior in bullying situations; these connections were stronger among b oys than among girls. Bullying others and assisting or reinforcing the bull y were typical of adolescents with so-called defensive SE. Defending the vi ctims of bullying was typical of adolescents with genuine high SE. Being vi ctimized by peers was most typical of adolescents with low SE and among gir ls, of those in the cluster thed authors named "humble pride " The social b ehavior of so-called self-belittlers did not clearly distinguish them from the other groups.