The purpose of this study is to explore the association between self-esteem and social integration among adolescents. The research procedure involves a secondary analysis of four large - scale probability samples of adolescents (N's = 5,024, 1,098, 2,114, and 16,000). Several items of evidence support the position that global self-esteem is relevant to mental health: (1) low self-esteem is related to measures of depression, anxiety, and other measures of subjective distress; (2) low self-esteem is included as a symptom in a number of well-regarded diagnostic instruments; (3) low self-esteem distinguishes certain clinical from normal groups. Problems of self-esteem and of social integration are especially prominent during the adolescent life stage. This study focuses on the psychological rather than the structural component of integration, i.e., on the individual's feelings of attachment to society. Four types of integration are explored: interpersonal integration, group integration, normative integration, and institutional integration. Four phases of research are planned: (1) Phase I: a descriptive phase, designed to investigate the empirical association between global self-esteem and diverse indicators of social integration in the four studies. (2) Phase II: an effort to provide more precise estimates of the relationships between the underlying (latent) variables. (3) Phase III: an effort to test causal models of the relationship between self-esteem and social integration through the introduction of intervening variables. (4) Phase IV: an examination of the reciprocal effects of self-esteem and various facets of social integration.
