Self-esteem in students: Sexual Communication, condom use, and guilty conscience

There is persuasive evidence that psychological and emotional factors are closely associated with the self-esteem of college students. Our study examined the association of sexual communication, psychological discomfort with condom use, and guilty conscience with the self-esteem in 662 ethnically-diverse male and female college students. Using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES, Cronbach's alpha=.78), we measured feelings of self-acceptance, self-respect, and positive self-evaluation. Scores range from 10 to 40, with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. We hypothesized that increased dysfunctional sexual communication, psychological discomfort with condom use, and guilty conscience would explain greater variance in self-esteem in college students. We designed and tested a model using hierarchical linear regression analysis (RSES as dependent variable) which explained 25% of variance in self-esteem [adjusted Rē=.249, F(11,643)=20.74, p<.001]. As predicted, guilty conscience (t=-12.65, p<.001), psychological discomfort with condom use (t=-3.445, p<.001), and dysfunctional sexual communication (t=-2.03, p<.05) were all significantly negatively associated with decreased levels of self-esteem. Our results implicate potential access points for the treatment of depression since low self-esteem is widely associated with elevated depression in the literature. Our findings suggest implications for public health because they identify several health-related points of access for the treatment of depression in this population. Clinicians on campus working with depressed students may address sexual communication, condom embarrassment, and personal guilt as ways to enhance their self-esteem and, thus, lower their depression.