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Psychology vocabulary · Personality

Self-esteem

Meaning in psychology, with examples

/ˌself ɪˈstiːm/nounCore term

In psychology, self-esteem means: A person's overall judgement of their own worth, that is, how much they value, accept and respect themselves.

In Turkish: benlik saygısı, öz saygı

How it is used

Common in personality, social, developmental and clinical psychology. People have high or low self-esteem, and researchers often measure it with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Low self-esteem appears in many case formulations.

Example sentences

  1. Being bullied in early adolescence was associated with lower self-esteem at age 18.

  2. Her self-esteem seems to depend almost entirely on her exam results.

Common collocations

  • low self-esteem
  • high self-esteem
  • boost self-esteem
  • self-esteem scale
  • personalityThe fairly stable pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from others and consistent across situations and over time.
  • social identityThe part of a person's self-concept that comes from belonging to social groups, such as a nation, profession, team or religion, and from the value attached to that membership.
  • depressionA mental health condition marked by persistent low mood or loss of interest and pleasure, often with changes in sleep, appetite, energy and concentration.
  • adolescenceThe stage of development between childhood and adulthood, roughly from the start of puberty to the late teens or early twenties, with major physical, cognitive and social changes.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Personality

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.