Psychometric Properties of Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to factor analyze responses by 154 students to the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory. Other measures of homogeneity, such as average correlation of one item with the rest of the items for the total scale and the subscales are also reported. For farther check on homogeneity, every single item was correlated with the total test score. The reliability of the scale was also estimated by Cronbach's alpha and by domain sampling method. Subjects' scores were correlated with those on other scales measuring similar concepts to gain insight into content and essential construct of the scale. The study examined the construct validity of this inventory by experimentally manipulating the subjects' self-esteem and then assessing the effect of the manipulation of subjects' scores. All measures of homogeneity showed the test to be heterogeneous. Homogeneity as measured by Cronbach's alpha, however, came to be .75. Correlations of this scale with some of the other tests were significant but not with all the tests. This one experimental manipulation of self-esteem did not indicate construct validity for this general scale. Other manipulations should be examined.