A COSMIN-based meta-analysis on the Psychometric Properties of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale for Children and Adolescents

Abstract Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965) is the most widely used measure of self-esteem for research purposes, especially when targeting children and young people. In this study, we synthesized the findings and assessed the quality of 39 studies that reported the psychometric properties of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in participants under 21 years old using the COSMIN methodology. Most studies were found to be doubtful in terms of content or criterion validity, measurement error, reliability, and responsiveness. Almost all included studies provided sufficient evidence of internal consistency, structural validity and hypothesis testing. The overall Cronbach’s alpha estimate obtained through three level meta-analytic models was 0.79 ( k = 15, 95% CI = 0.75-0.83), McDonald’s omega was 0.78 ( k = 6, 95% CI = 0.77-0.78) and the Composite Reliability estimate was 0.85 ( k = 3, 95% CI = 0.84-0.86). Self-esteem was significantly and negatively correlated with violence, mental health problems and positively correlated with Life satisfaction, self-perceptions and social relationships in participants between 6 and 21 years old.