Self-Esteem and Hopelessness, and Resiliency: An Exploratory Study of Adolescents in Turkey

Adolescence is a time of rapid development and change. In this developmental period, adolescents have to struggle with a large number of stress factors. In this process resilience is important to have as an adaptive, stress-resistant personal quality. The recent research considers that numerous factors contribute to resilience in adolescents; the internal characteristics associated with resilience include such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, perseverance, internal locus of control, coping and adaptation skills. The purpose of this study is to explore self-esteem and hopelessness as the predictor of resiliency of adolescents. The participants in this study are 223 high school school students (90 females and 133 males). Main instruments are Beck Hopelessness Scale, California Healthy Kids Survey Resilience-Youth Development Module High School Questionnaire and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale. The data has been analyzed by regression analysis. The findings showed that self-esteem and hopelessness is a significant predictor of resilience in adolescents. There was a positive relationship between self-esteem and resilience, but there was a negative relationship between hopelessness and resilience. In accordance with the results obtained from this study, there is a correlation between adolescents’ self-esteem, hopelessness and resilience levels. Finally, findings warrant further investigation of the interaction effects of self esteem and hopelessness on resilience.