Self-esteem, and self-concept clarity in Chinese students

Critical self-framing factors and salient self-referent attributes were examined for their usefulness in predicting global self-esteem. On 12 attributes 186 Hong Kong Chinese students rated their self-view, the importance of each attribute, and their certainty of possessing each attribute. Self-rating was related to self-esteem in a simple unitary manner. Importance of attribute contributed little to the analysis while certainty was related to self-esteem only for students with strongly positive self-views. A pattern of difference in emphasis for high and low self- esteem students on social attributes was clearly distinguishable. The results are discussed in terms of their cultural implications and strategy for maintaining self-esteem.