Research Article Low Self-Esteem Is Related to Aggression, Antisocial Behavior, and Delinquency

ABSTRACT—The present research explored the controver-sial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems. This relation held for measures of self-esteem and externalizing problems based on self-report, teachers ’ ratings, and parents ’ ratings, and for participants from different na-tionalities (United States and New Zealand) and age groups (adolescents and college students). Moreover, this relation held both cross-sectionally and longitudinally and after controlling for potential confounding variables such as supportive parenting, parent-child and peer relation-ships, achievement-test scores, socioeconomic status, and IQ. In addition, the effect of self-esteem on aggression was independent of narcissism, an important finding given recent claims that individuals who are narcissistic, not low in self-esteem, are aggressive. Discussion focuses on clar-ifying the relations among self-esteem, narcissism, and externalizing problems. The link between global self-esteem and aggression is currently being debated by researchers (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003; DuBois & Tevendale, 1999) and in the popular media (e.g., Slater, 2002). Researchers on one side of the debate have argued that individuals with low self-esteem are prone to real-world externalizing problems such as delinquency and antisocial behavior (e.g., Fergusson & Horwood, 2002; Rosenberg, Schooler, & Schoenbach, 1989; Sprott & Doob, 2000). However, others have questioned this claim, noting that several studies have failed to find a relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems (e.g., Bynner, O’Malley, &amp