Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-esteem: a quantitative review

Research on racial comparisons of self-esteem was examined. Early research in this area, exemplified by the doll studies of racial preference, was viewed as demonstrating that Blacks have less self-regard than Whites. However, a meta-analytic synthesis of 261 comparisons, based largely on self-esteem scales and involving more than half a million respondents, revealed higher scores for Black than for White children, adolescents, and young adults. This analysis further revealed that the direction and magnitude of racial differences are influenced by such demographic characteristics as participant age and socioeconomic status, as well as by characteristics of the measuring instruments. Many findings--for example, that the self-esteem advantage for Black respondents increases with age and is related to the sex composition of the sample--underscore the need for long-term longitudinal studies of self-esteem development in male and female members of both racial groups.