Researchers claim self-esteem gender gap is more in Western countries

Washington : When we grow up our self-esteem tends to increase. However males generally have higher levels of self-esteem than women.

According to a research conducted by the American Psychological Association, self-esteem gender gap is more pronounced in Western industrialised countries than others.

Lead author Wiebke Bleidorn said that during the past two decades, a large number of studies on age and gender differences in self-esteem have found that men have higher self-esteem than women and that both men and women show age-graded increases in self-esteem.

Bleidorn added that these robust findings would appear to provide a solid empirical foundation upon which researchers can develop their understanding of the mechanisms driving age and gender differences in self-esteem.

The researcher further said that one issue that potentially undermines this conclusion is that virtually all previous studies have only examined samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries. However, their research aims to provide the first systematic cross-cultural examination of gender and age effects on self-esteem.

During the study, the researchers analysed survey data from over 985,000 men and women ages 16-45 from 48 countries.

In general, the researchers found that self-esteem tended to increase with age, from adolescence to adulthood, and that men at every age tended to have higher levels of self-esteem than women worldwide.

The study is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (ANI)