The study examines the question of how personal self-esteem, collective self-esteem and readiness for self-improvement are linked to satisfaction with life in women from countries differing with regard to level of collectivism. Our study participants were Polish and Indian female students. The obtained results indicate that personal self-esteem plays a very important role in satisfaction with life of women from the two countries. However, collective self-esteem is not directly related to satisfaction with life among women from the two cultures analyzed. (...) Structural Equation Modeling showed that: a) in the Indian group readiness for self-improvement is more important for satisfaction with life than in the Polish group and it is significantly related to satisfaction with life through collectivistic self-esteem, b) the direct influence of both personal and collective self-esteem on satisfaction with life is more significant in the Polish group than in the Indian group. (shrink)

Two studies were performed to test the relationship between readiness for self-improvement and selected measures of well-being. The first study investigated whether readiness for self-improvement is related to the selected measures of overall subjective well-being. The second one investigated in what way readiness for self-improvement is related to subjective well-being at workplace. The results obtained in both cases showed that readiness for self-improvement is indeed related to and does account for well-being. In the first study, readiness for self-improvement accounted for (...) overall life satisfaction within important human life domains and satisfaction with the present and future life. In the second study, work engagement, was significantly linked to readiness to improve oneself but was not with readiness to take care of one’s health. (shrink)

The aim of the study was to examine the role of self-esteem in resisting the influence of materialistic goals of four social role models in adolescents. Previous studies showed a negative correlation between the psychological health of teens and striving for materialistic goals, one of the main sources is the social modeling of materialism. Two studies were carried out. The first, correlational study, was conducted on target teens and their mothers, fathers, and peers of their choice. It examined if self-esteem (...) is a moderator of the relationship between the materialism of social role models and the materialism of teens. The second, experimental study, was conducted on target teens only. It examined how boosting the self-esteem of teens and activating materialism of social role models may affect the materialism of teens. Study 1 showed a significant interaction effect of self-esteem and the materialism of peers on the materialism of teens. The interaction effects of self-esteem and other role models were not significant. Study 2 showed that elevated self-esteem lowered the influence of the materialism of peers on the materialism of teens. The results were not significant when other role models were analyzed. The results obtained in the presented studies indicate that the self-esteem of teens may have an important role in resisting the influence of materialism role models of peers. Practical implications of the studies for the psychological health of teens are also discussed. (shrink)