A Longitudinal Study of African American Women and the Maintenance of a Healthy Self-Esteem

The present study examined the self-esteem of African American women (N = 428) over a 14-year period using the National Survey of Black Americans: A Panel Study of Black American Life 1979-1992 (NSBA; Jackson & Gurin, 1996). Difference-of-means tests were used to examine self-esteem in four time periods (1979 to 1980, 1986 to 1987, 1988 to 1989, and 1992), and OLS regression was used to determine the effect of three variable categories (support networks, achievement outcomes, and racial esteem) on self-esteem in 1979 and 1992. Although historical analyses of self-esteem predicted low self-esteem for Blacks in general and Black women in particular, African American women maintain a very high self-esteem in three decades. Support networks and achievement outcomes significantly affected self-esteem in both years, and racial esteem was significantly related to self-esteem in 1979. The findings are discussed in relation to historical and current analyses of self-esteem and within a feminist paradigm that supports the maintenance of a healthy self-esteem despite membership in a marginalized group.