A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW ON SELF-ESTEEM AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL- BEING IN KOSOVO Naim Fanaj Mental Health Unit for Children and Adolescents Main Family Health Center Prizren, Kosovo naimfanaj@gmail.com Erika Melonashi European University of Tirana Doctoral school Social sciences Tirana, Albania erika.melonashi@uet.edu.al Abstract— Self-esteem represents a basic behavioral motive. As such this construct is related to several dimensions of psychological well-being. The aim of the present study was to analyze research on self-esteem in Kosovo and discuss findings relating self-esteem to psychological well-being. Eight full papers and five abstracts have been identified. Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used as a measuring instrument in all cases. Apart from three studies where participants were Serbian, the rest were Kosovo-Albanians. The samples varied from 60 to 34684 participants. The internal consistency of the questionnaire has shown acceptable values (alpha between .70 - .83). The mean values of self-esteem in these studies ranged from 22.1 to 37.65. These values are comparable with other countries such as Bosnia, Greece, Italy, Serbia etc. As regards the relationships between self-esteem and psychological well-being the study found significant correlations with suicidal ideation, emotional difficulties and behavioral problems. Also significant correlations have been reported between self-esteem and anxiety, shyness, depression, impulsive behavior, eating disorders etc. Conversely self-esteem correlates positively with hope and life satisfaction. The present findings were discussed in the context of methodological shortcomings and suggestions were given for future research. Keywords- self-esteem, Kosovo, psychological well-being I. INTRODUCTION Global self-esteem has been defined as an individual’s overall sense of worthiness as a person [1,2]. The need for self- esteem is a fundamental human motive [3]. The self- actualization theory of Maslow places self-esteem fourth in the hierarchy of needs, together with the need for achievement, competence, independence, and respect [4]. This construct has been broadly investigated in social science research as well as in several areas of psychology such as clinical, developmental or counselling psychology [5,6]. Results from empirical studies have established self-esteem as one of the most important constructs related to and explaining multiple behavioural outcomes. For instance, studies have identified self-esteem as an important determinant of emotional well-being, so that individuals with high self-esteem experience greater emotional stability and are better at managing their emotions [7,8]. Nonetheless, the mechanism correlating self-esteem to emotional wellbeing has been subject to further research investigation and this construct has been given the role of a protective factor, a moderator, a mediator or just a result of emotional well-being [4, 9, 10, 11, 12]. A longitudinal study in New Zealand which followed adolescents over 20 years reported that adolescents with low self-esteem also had poor physical and psychological health, poor economical prospect and higher chances to be involved in criminal behaviour by age 20 [13]. In this context self-esteem has been also considered as a risk marker [14]. On the other hand there is also research associating high self-esteem with egoism, narcissism or violence [4,7,15,16]. Indeed, there is some evidence that when confronted with refusal or criticism, people with particularly high self-esteem (narcissistic) might be more prone to aggressive behaviour as compared to people with low self-esteem; several authors have referred to this aspect, as the dark side of self-esteem [5, 14]. Hence, it seems as though particularly high levels of self- esteem might be associated with negative psychological and behavioural outcomes. Conversely, a comprehensive review on self-esteem [7] concluded that there is weak support for the view that high self-esteem leads to better adjustment (e.g., improved school performance, reduced antisocial behaviour). Thus, many researchers take a pessimistic view of the causal role played by self-esteem in forecasting adaptive life outcomes. The investigation of self-esteem is particularly intriguing in countries such as Kosovo especially because of the particularity of this country in terms of ethnic composition, and the accompanying socio-cultural dimensions. Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe as almost half of the country’s population (47.6 %) is under age 24 and more than 1/5 (22 %) is between 15 and 25 years old [17]. Kosovo is also the poorest country in South East Europe, as the annual mean income per capita is the lowest in Europe (€1.611). Additionally the country has very high rates of unemployment ranging from 40% (in the general population) to 70% (among youth) [18] (European Commission, October 2009). Estimates of the World Bank (2007) suggest that almost half of the population (45%) still live under the poverty level (€1.42/day) and 15% of the population live in extreme poverty (€0.93/day) [19]. Fifteen years after the Kosovo war, consequences (both economical and psychological) are still very present in the country. Also Serbian minorities living in predominantly Albanian regions are quite isolated within the poorest regions of the country; SECTION Psychology, Sociology and Pedagogy Human And Social Sciences at the Common Conference November, 17. - 21. 2014 The 2nd Human And Social Sciences at the Common Conference http://www.hassacc.com - 103 -