Is the well-being of a society dependent on the well-being of its citizenry? Does individual self-esteem play a causal role in chronic social problems such as child abuse, school drop-out rates, teenage pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, welfare dependency? In an attempt to answer these questions, the State of California established a task force on self-esteem and social responsibility in 1987. The aim of this body was to determine what connections might exist between these two factors and to suggest policy guidelines relating to the welfare of Californians and to the expenditure of public resources. The ten essays in this volume, prepared by faculty members of the University of California, draw on research in the social and behavioral sciences to explore these issues. They assess the substantive assertions and research findings in the field and make careful evaluations of their reliability and validity. In many cases strong connections between self-esteem and problematic behavior are established, in others the connections are weak, and in some the causal relationship is, as yet, imperfectly understood. One of the conclusions of the book is that research on these issues needs to be improved, particularly in the areas of comparative and longitudinal studies. Guidelines for future research are suggested, and some points of policy direction are elaborated. These essays may indeed promote additional research, for the premise that social stability and welfare are largely dependent on the psychological state of a people poses a challenging and provocative counter-emphasis to the assumption that social institutions are the primary determinants of individual welfare.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between locus of control, self-esteem, and coping strategies in stressful encounters. Locus of control was defined as internal and external; self esteem as low and high; coping strategies as cognitive and non-cognitive. Stressful encounters were clustered into nine categories, namely examinations, physical harm, negative life events (financial and troubled relationships), threat, challenge, commitments, achievement, ambiguity and family relations (protection and conflict). The sample included one hundred and twenty-eight students of both sexes (i.e. 64 males and 64 females) randomly selected from the American University of Beirut. Four questionnaires were constructed and piloted for the purpose of the study. A questionnaire to measure the level of stress; a questionnaire to measure the type of coping; a questionnaire to measure the type of control; a questionnaire to measure the level of self-esteem. Data were analyzed by a series of correlation coefficients. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients revealed significant correlations between the variables under investigation. The results were discussed in terms of the relationship between the effectiveness of cognitive coping strategies as opposed to non-cognitive ones and an individual's level of self-esteem and type of control in stressful episodes.

between children with an internal locus of control and children with an external locus of control.