MEASUREMENT OF SELF-ESTEEM: AN INVENTORY FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IMMANUEL THOMAS & H. SAM SANANDA RAJ University of Kerala, Trirandrum A self esteem inventory was developed making use of the direct self-report method. There were 50 items in the draft scale. A sample of 400 secondary school pupils (211 boys and 189 girls) was used for item analysis. Forty seven items showed high discriminating power (significant at .01 level), of which, 25 items were selected for inclusion in the final scale. The final scale was administered on different samples for estimating its reliability and validity, and for developing the norms. The split-half reliability of the scale is found to be 0.95, after correction using Spearman-Brown formula (N = 100), and the retest reliability 0.90 (N= 120). The validity of the scale obtained with teacher rating as external criterion is 0.4l, which is significant at .01 level (N = 53). Separate centile norms have been developed for boys (N=218) and girls (N=202). Attempts have been made by several investigators towards quantifying 'self - esteem'. Of the several approaches to the measurement of the construct, the following are noteworthy: the direct self-report method (Coopersmith, 1967; Gough and Heilbrum, 1965; Bills, Vance, and McLean, 195J); the indirect method (Sears and Sherman. 1964; Ziller, 1969; Lesser and Abelson, 1959); unstructured interviews (Silber and Tippett, 1965); projective techniques (Machover, 1949; Spitzer, 1969), and ratings by others (Dittes, 1959a, b; Coopersmith, 1967). For the development of the present inventory, the direct self-report method is used. This technique is simple to administer and. at the same time, free from conceptual problems associated with indirect forms of measurement (Wells and Marwell, 1976). The draft scale With a view to collect and consolidate the items for the draft scale, an exhaustive survey of literature related to the conceptualization and measurement of self-esteem was conducted. At this stage, the need for an operational definition of the construct was felt, and the following description by Coopersmith (1967) was accepted: (Self - esteem is) ... the evaluation which the individual makes and customarily maintains with regard to himself: it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval. ... It is a subjective experience which the individual conveys to others by verbal reports and other overt expressive behaviour. On the basis of this definition, 50 items were collecte d for the draft scale. Of these, 41 items were taken from other well-known scales, as detailed below: 28 items were from the Coopersmith Self- esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1967), 9 items from the Janis and Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Hovland and Janis , 1959), and 4 items from the Rosenberg Self-esteem Inventory (Rosenberg, 1965). The criteria for selection of these items were the following: simplicity in Psychological Studies 1984, Vol. 29. No. 1