Brief Description
The Adolescent Self-Esteem Questionnaire (ASEQ) is a global measure of self-esteem. Global self-esteem is an individual’s assessment of themselves in general, or their overall feelings about themselves relative to others. While self-esteem is generally lower in adolescence, low self-esteem is associated with academic underachievement and risk-taking behaviors (e.g., substance use), as well as with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and disordered eating.
Assessment Administration Type
Adolescent Self-Report
Number of questions
12
Age Range for Administration
11-17
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No standardized frequency; recommend administering every other week or as clinically indicated.
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The ASQ includes 12 items on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (“Almost all of the time”) to 5 (“Hardly ever”). There are both negatively and positively framed items. Item scores are summed, with positively worded items reverse coded, to determine a client’s self-esteem score, with a higher score reflecting higher levels of self-esteem. Blueprint uses the cut off score of 17 or lower based on research indicating that scores at this threshold or lower was associated with a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with major depressive disorder that had affected functioning within the past 12 months. More specifically, scores of 17 or lower are associated with a greater than 50% probability of depression.
Blueprint Adjustments
N/A
Clinical Considerations
There is evidence that the ASEQ is comparable to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). However, authors of the ASEQ note that its language is more updated and also reflects a cultural shift with how social media has impacted adolescent body image as compared to the RSES, which was published in 1965.
According to past research using the ASEQ:
Males tend to report higher self-esteem levels than females.
On average, younger adolescents report higher self-esteem scores than older adolescents.
Adolescents with major depressive disorder score significantly lower on the ASEQ as compared to non-depressed peers.
According to Hafekost and colleagues (2017), adolescents who were classified as having major depressive disorder which had impacted their functioning in the past 12 months had significantly lower self-esteem (mean ASQ score = 24.5) compared to adolescents who were not classified as having major depressive disorder in the previous 12 months (mean ASQ score = 36.9). Blueprint utilizes the cut-off of 17 given its predictive validity (see p. 22 of Hakefost et al., 2017).
See the table below for mean scores on the ASEQ by age and sex (collected from an Australian sample of adolescents in 2013-2014):
Citation
Hafekost, K., Boterhoven de Haan, K., Lawrence, D., Sawyer, M.G., and Zubrick, S.R., (2017). Validation of the Adolescent Self-Esteem Questionnaire: Technical Report: Telethon Kids Institute and the Graduate School of Education. The University of Western Australia. Perth, Australia.
Relevant Articles + Further Resources
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