This article critically examines the relationship between self-esteem and criminal social identity in violent offenders, offering a novel rehabilitative framework within the Indian penal system. Despite global recognition of identity reformation as integral to offender rehabilitation, India has yet to integrate these psychological dimensions into correctional strategies. This research, conducted at Sabarmati Central Prison, Ahmedabad, applies structured therapeutic interventions to assess shifts in self-esteem and criminal social identity among 70 violent offenders, measured pre- and post-intervention. Criminal social identity reflects the internalization of criminality as a defining role, while self-esteem denotes an individual’s perceived legitimacy within social norms. The findings underscore the formative influence of environmental, familial and sociocultural factors, revealing a significant interplay between self-concept and criminal behaviour. Statistically significant improvements post-intervention demonstrate the potential for identity reconstruction as a rehabilitative tool. This analysis challenges punitive correctional models, advocating for evidence-based, human-centred interventions that prioritize psychological rehabilitation. By offering a culturally contextualized approach, this article contributes to contemporary debates on criminal justice reform, providing a blueprint for integrating psychological insights into correctional policy in India and beyond.

This paper introduces the concept of self-fulfilling testimonial injustice: a distinctive form of epistemic injustice whereby credibility deficits become true by shaping the very conditions that sustain them. Much of the literature on testimonial injustice has rightly emphasized cases in which credibility deficits are rooted in false beliefs, themselves underwritten by ethically bad affective investments. Yet such a focus risks obscuring a structurally significant variant: namely, those credibility deficits that are rendered true through self-fulfilling mechanisms. Drawing on insights from economics and psychology, I distinguish between motivated cognition-based and cognitive bias-based testimonial injustice, which together furnish the background conditions under which self-fulfilling testimonial injustice can take hold. I develop this account by drawing on both theoretical and experimental work on labor market discrimination, which illuminates the ways in which credibility deficits may become self-fulfillingly entrenched. Finally, I explore the distinctive harms of this form of injustice, focusing on its corrosive effects on epistemic self-confidence or self-trust and epistemic self-esteem, and suggest that its insidiousness and relative invisibility render it both difficult to detect and potentially more pervasive than has hitherto been acknowledged.

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify associations between overall and subtypes of CM, global/trait resilience, and five resilience domains (coping, self-esteem, emotion regulation, self-efficacy, and well-being) in adults, and to examine moderators and mediators of these associations. A systematic search was undertaken on 12 June 2024 to identify published peer-reviewed articles in five databases (PROSPERO-CRD42023394120). Of 15,262 records, 203 studies were included, comprising 145,317 adults (Mage = 29.62 years; 34.96% males); 183 studies and 557 effect sizes were pooled in random-effect meta-analyses. Overall CM and its subtypes were negatively associated with global/trait resilience and its domains (r = −0.081 to −0.330). Emotional abuse/neglect showed the largest magnitude of effect (r = −0.213 to −0.321). There was no meta-analytic evidence for an association between sexual abuse and coping, and physical abuse/neglect and self-esteem. Meta-regressions identified age, sample size, and study quality as moderators. Subgroup analyses found that associations between emotional abuse and emotion regulation were stronger, while associations between emotional abuse and self-esteem were weaker, in western versus non-western countries. No differences were found in associations between CM and resilience in clinical versus non-clinical samples. Narrative synthesis identified several mediators. Associations were of small magnitude and there were a limited number of studies, especially studies assessing CM subtypes, such as physical neglect, bullying, or domestic violence, and resilience domains, such as coping or self-efficacy, in males, and clinical samples. CM exposure negatively impacts resilience in adults, an effect observed across multiple maltreatment types and resilience domains. Interventions focused on resilience in adults with CM histories are needed to improve health and psychosocial outcomes.

Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by a sense of being more important and entitled than others. Narcissism is high in adolescence and puts adolescents at risk of psychopathology and problematic social relationships. Why is narcissism persistent in adolescence? Bridging insights from developmental, clinical, social, and personality psychology, we examined whether adolescents (ages 11–15) high in narcissism maintain narcissism through downward social comparisons (e.g., “I am better than my classmates”), not downward temporal comparisons (e.g., “I am better now than when I was younger”). A cross-sectional study (N = 382, 97% Dutch) showed that adolescents higher in narcissism made more downward social and temporal comparisons. In a longitudinal study (N = 389, 99% Dutch), we assessed adolescents’ narcissism levels at the beginning of the school year and at 3-month follow-up. In-between, we captured adolescents’ comparisons through daily diary assessments. Adolescents higher in narcissism made more downward social and temporal comparisons. Downward social – but not temporal – comparisons partially mediated the 3-month stability of narcissism. In both studies, self-esteem was unrelated to downward comparisons. Thus, downward social – but not temporal – comparisons contribute to the maintenance of adolescent narcissism, and these comparisons constitute a potentially malleable developmental mechanism to curtail narcissism.

This study investigated associations between childhood neighborhood deprivation and adolescent mental health difficulties, and potential protective factors. Data were utilized from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) (born in 2000–2002; N = 5,422; 52% female) and the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study (born in 1994–1995; N = 1,920; 53% female). Childhood neighborhood deprivation was measured using the Index of Multiple Deprivation between age 9 months and 14 years (MCS) and at age 12 (E-Risk). Adolescent mental health was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at age 17 (MCS) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule conducted at age 18 with symptoms loading onto general psychopathology, internalizing and externalizing factors (E-Risk). Cross-classified models showed high levels of neighborhood deprivation in childhood were associated with more total problems (estimate = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.04–0.88) and internalizing difficulties (estimate = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.06–0.59) in adolescence within MCS. Being male, having higher self-esteem, greater social support, and a more positive parent-child relationship were associated with fewer total problems (estimates = −0.09–−1.87) and internalizing difficulties (estimates = −0.03–−1.88) at age 17 in the full sample regardless of neighborhood deprivation exposure. However, interactions revealed that higher self-esteem was especially beneficial for children exposed to high neighborhood deprivation (estimate = −0.35, 95% CI = −0.43–−0.27). No significant associations between childhood neighborhood deprivation and adolescent mental health symptoms were found in E-Risk. Interventions focused on improving self-esteem, social support, and parenting may help promote better adolescent mental health in the general population. Those living in the most deprived areas may benefit most from increased self-esteem.

There is a lack of longitudinal data on the relationship between upward social comparison on social network sites (SNSs) and depression and its underlying mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship between upward social comparison on social network sites and depression and analyze the mediating effects of self-concept clarity and self-esteem in this relationship. We employed a two-wave longitudinal design among 1179 Chinese middle school students. The results indicated that : upward social comparison on SNSs predicted middle school students’ depression; Self-concept clarity and self-esteem sequentially mediated the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and middle school students’ subsequent depression. These results suggested that three types of interventions could be effectively used to decrease the risk of depression among middle school students.

The present research evaluates the stability of self-esteem as assessed by a daily version of the Rosenberg (Society and the adolescent self-image, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1965) general self-esteem scale (RGSE). The scale was administered to 391 undergraduates for five consecutive days. The longitudinal data were analyzed using the integrated LC-LSTM framework that allowed us to evaluate: (1) the measurement invariance of the RGSE, (2) its stability and change across the 5-day assessment period, (3) the amount of variance attributable to stable and transitory latent factors, and (4) the criterion-related validity of these factors. Results provided evidence for measurement invariance, mean-level stability, and rank-order stability of daily self-esteem. Latent state-trait analyses revealed that variances in scores of the RGSE can be decomposed into six components: stable self-esteem (40 %), ephemeral (or temporal-state) variance (36 %), stable negative method variance (9 %), stable positive method variance (4 %), specific variance (1 %) and random error variance (10 %). Moreover, latent factors associated with daily self-esteem were associated with measures of depression, implicit self-esteem, and grade point average.

The finding that victims’ psychological problems tend to be exacerbated in lower-victimization classrooms has been referred to as the “healthy context paradox.” The current study has put the healthy context paradox to a strict test by examining whether classroom-level victimization moderates bidirectional within- and between-person associations between victimization and psychological adjustment. Across one school year, 3,470 Finnish 4th to 9th graders (Mage = 13.16, 46.1% boys) reported their victimization, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-esteem. Three types of multilevel models (cross-lagged panel, latent change score, and random-intercept cross-lagged panel) were estimated for each indicator of psychological adjustment. Findings indicated that the healthy context paradox emerges because classroom-level victimization moderates the prospective effect of victimization on psychological problems, rather than the effect of psychological problems on victimization. In classrooms with lower victimization, victims not only experience worse psychological maladjustment over time compared to others (between-person changes), but also higher maladjustment than before (absolute within-person changes).