The self-esteem of Australians has remained stable for decades, calling into question the misconception that the younger generations are becoming more self-centred, new research has found.<\/p>\n
In a paper published in Social Psychological and Personality Science<\/em>, the Curtin University-led research showed the self-esteem of Australian high school students, university students and the general public had not changed from 1978 to 2014.<\/p>\n Lead researcher Dr Takeshi Hamamura, from the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology at Curtin University, said the finding suggests the notion of younger generations becoming more self-centred may be incorrect in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThis research found that the self-esteem of Australians of all ages has been stable, and therefore not increased, between 1978 and 2014,\u201d Dr Hamamura said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means self-esteem levels have remained at the same levels across generations of Australians including high school students, university students, adults and the wider public.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the United States, the fact that self-esteem continues to increase among the population is used as evidence that Americans are becoming more self-centered.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, this research suggests that a similar trend is not evident in Australia. That means the suggestion that younger generations are becoming self-centred may be incorrect in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n The research involved a statistical analysis of all published data on self-esteem in Australia using a method known as temporal meta-analysis.<\/p>\n