The effectiveness of consolation within friendships in adolescence: differences in the level and instability of self-esteem

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13308
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10020:Educational psychology-related
• Research Institution: Shizuoka University of Welfare
• Principal Investigator: Ogawa Shota 静岡福祉大学, 社会福祉学部, 講師 (90805409)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 自尊感情の変動性 / 友人関係 / 慰め / サポート

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study conducted questionnaire and interview surveys with Japanese university students and investigated differences in the comforting effects within friendships on the level and instability of self-esteem. Our results showed that people with stable low self-esteem feel relatively less gratitude for receiving comfort and tend to hesitate to engage in emotional interactions (including with regard to comfort) with friends. In this study, the Japanese version of the perceived self-esteem instability measure (P-SEI measure; Howard, 2017), which measures self-esteem instability by direct assessment via a scale, was developed.

Free Research Field

発達心理学、教育心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

青年の友人関係では「近づきたい－近づきすぎたくない」というジレンマがあり，親密な深い関係が築きにくい。本研究は慰め行為の個人差を検討して，この友人関係の特徴は自尊感情が低く安定した人でみられやすいことを解明した。本研究の成果は，教育的支援に向けた青年期の理解において社会的意義がある。また，従来の方法よりも簡便に自尊感情の変動性が測定できる日本語版P-SEI尺度を作成した点で学術的意義がある。