The Development and Validation of a Nonverbal Measure of Self-Esteem: the Sliding Person Test

Abstract

This paper reports validity evidence from several studies for a nonverbal measure of self-esteem, the Sliding Person Test (SPERT). Two versions of SPERT, a wooden manipulative task and a paperpencil measure, were correlated .81. Convergent validity correlations were comparable to typical correlations among self-concept measures. Test-retest and alternate form reliabilities ranged from .57 to .95. Minimal evidence of convergent and discriminant validity was established, and correlations with IQ and social desirability measures were sufficiently low. Relationships between a measure of self-esteem and those of social adjustment and emotional adjustment supported the findings of other studies. The potential of SPERT for use by counselors in intervention programs and by classroom teachers was demonstrated.EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT 1979, 39 SELF-ESTEEM was first defined by William James (1890) as a ratio of one's &dquo;actualities&dquo; to one's &dquo;pretensions&dquo; (p. 191). Butler and Haigh (1954) operationalized this theoretical definition by a Q sort which was widely used by C. Rogers (C. Rogers and Dymond, 1954) and others as a measure of progress in psychotherapy. Since then, a vast amount of self-esteem research has been done with a variety of instruments, many of which are based on a self-ideal discrepancy definition of selfesteem. Almost all of these instruments consist of a set of verbal items from which a &dquo;global&dquo; self-esteem index is derived by simple summation of item scores. However, the results of a study by Shlien (1962) suggested that measurement of self-esteem by a nonverbal Gestalt-like response to a single abstract item is closer to an individual's unique perception of the self-ideal relationship than is measurement by a collection of concrete conventional items.

Risk and protective factors for depressive symptomatology among a community sample of adolescents and young adults

“…Self-actualisation was measured using the sliding person test and the scores were categorised into two groups: (i) high and (ii) medium to low, based on tertile scores. 26,27 Locus of control scores were categorised into two groups (i) external and undifferentiated and (ii) internal. 28 Scores from the problem-solving inventory and the sense of hopefulness scale were also categorised into two g roups: (i) high and (ii) medium to low, based on the tertiles of their distribution.…”