IMPULSIVENESS AND ATTITUDES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-ESTEEM IN ADOLESCENTS

Impulsiveness and attitudes towards violence influence in the development of self-esteem during adolescence, a complicated period of life with multiple physical and emotional changes. The objective of this work is to study the influence that impulsiveness and attitudes towards violence have in adolescents' self-esteem. We present a cross-sectional study with a sample of 522 students, between 1st and 4th year of secondary education. We used a questionnaire that included Rosenberg's self-esteem, Barrat's impulsiveness and CAVH-28 scales of attitudes. We got a positive correlation between impulsivity factors, attitudes and negative self-esteem, and an inverse correlation between motor impulsiveness and positive self-esteem (r=-.114; p<.05). The predictive model showed that positive self-esteem in >= 15 years old (R-2=.133) was influenced by attitudes (beta=-.174; p=.038), and last trimester qualification (beta=.178; p=.035) and negative self-esteem in <= 14 years old (R-2=.124) was influenced by motor impulsiveness (beta=.186; p=.001), and last trimester qualification (beta=-.203; p=.000). Knowing that impulsiveness and attitudes have an influence in adolescent's self-esteem can help us to understand that getting higher levels of self-esteem is behind some adolescents' desadaptative behaviors.