Effectiveness of a School-Based Universal Prevention Program for Enhancing Autonomous Self-Esteem: Utilizing an Implicit Association Test as an Assessment Tool

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Abstract

<p>Background: School personnel often attempt to cultivate self-esteem, attributing the causes of many psychological and behavioral problems of children to their low self-esteem. Although self-esteem needs to be extensively studied with high accuracy due to its great interest, many serious problems have been identified regarding research on self-esteem. Most problems concern the concept and assessment of self-esteem. To address the problems, in recent years, self-esteem was divided into two types: autonomous and heteronomous self-esteem. The former is healthy and adaptive, while the latter is unhealthy and nonadaptive. Moreover, a school-based universal program that cultivates autonomous self-esteem and decreases heteronomous selfesteem has been developed. The program is termed “the School-Based Universal Prevention Program for Enhancing Autonomous Self-Esteem.” However, despite that autonomous and heteronomous self-esteem nonconsciously function with the need for being nonconsciously assessed, no nonconscious assessment tool has been utilized to test the effectiveness of the program.</p><p>Objective: The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the program using a reliable and valid implicit association test as a nonconscious assessment tool.</p><p>Methods: Participants were 55 (23 boys and 32 girls) and 60 (31 boys and 29 girls) 5th-grade children for the intervention and control groups, respectively. The program was conducted for 45 minutes once a week for four successive weeks. The test to assess the effectiveness of the program was the Autonomous and Heteronomous Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test for Children. The children in the intervention group completed the test twice, before and after the implementation of the program. Similar time periods were utilized for the control group that received no intervention.</p><p>Results: Results by 2 (intervention and control groups) × 2 (pe-intervention and post-intervention periods) × 2 (boys and girls; or high and low groups) analyses of variance showed that the program intervention significantly increased autonomous self-esteem and decreased heteronomous self-esteem compared to the control group. Moreover, the effectiveness of this program was similar regardless of sex and the level of autonomous self-esteem before the intervention.</p><p>Conclusion: The school-based universal program was found to be effective in cultivating autonomous self-esteem and decreasing heteronomous self-esteem when a nonconscious assessment tool of the implicit association test was utilized. Hereafter, the program is expected to be conducted at schools as an effective method to cultivate healthy and adaptive self-esteem.</p>

Journal

  • School Health

    School Health 18 (0), 1-9, 2022

    The Japanese Association of School Health

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