Self-Esteem Across Program Stages in a Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention: A Cohort-Based Analysis

Abstract

Self-esteem is an important aspect of adolescent development and has been associated with emotional wellbeing, coping capacity, and adjustment. During adolescence, the self is constantly shaped by the environment, relationships, and spaces to exercise agency. This is particularly significant for adolescent girls from marginalised communities, whose development is impacted by the intersection of social and structural constraints. Interventions that create safe, affirming spaces focused on life skills, personality development, and peer leadership skills may contribute to adolescents’ sense of self-worth. However, there is limited evidence on changes in self-esteem across longitudinal assessments, specifically in community-based interventions with adolescent girls.
This study examined differences in self-esteem across assessment waves among adolescent girls participating in a structured, multi-stage developmental intervention. Primary data were drawn from eight cohorts (G1–G8), and a quantitative comparative design was employed. Self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). As the dataset did not include a unique participant identifier and sample sizes varied across assessment waves, it was not possible to conduct true longitudinal analyses tracking individual-level change over time. Instead, differences in self-esteem across assessment waves were examined using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s post hoc test, and independent-samples/Welch’s t-tests, as appropriate. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics, with statistical significance set at p < .05.
Self-esteem remained relatively stable across most cohorts. No statistically significant differences were observed across assessment waves for G1, G2, G3, G6, and G7. Significant differences were observed for G4, G5, and G8. Post hoc analyses indicated lower self-esteem scores at later assessment waves for G4 and G5, while G8 also showed a significant difference between its two assessment waves. These findings suggest that changes in self-esteem were not uniform across cohorts, highlighting the importance of understanding adolescent development within its social and contextual environments. The study contributes to the emerging evidence on self-esteem within community-based developmental interventions for adolescents. It underscores the value of continued monitoring, follow-up, and longitudinal research to better understand how self-perceptions and related developmental outcomes evolve over time.