Relationship between Self-esteem and Internalizing and Externalizing in Children: Based on a Latent Profile Analysis

This study explored the different categories of children's self-esteem through a latent profile analysis and examined the internal and external characteristics of children’s self-esteem. A questionnaire survey was administered to 1189 children aged 8–15 years. Latent profile analysis was performed on the potential types of self-esteem. Pearson correlation and variance analysis were performed to explore the relationships and the differences in self-esteem categories on all outcomes. Children's self-esteem could be divided into four categories: lower, low, high, and higher. There were significant differences among the four groups of children at the level of internalization and externalization. Negative internalization showed a successive decrease for the lower, low, high and higher groups. Positive internalization increased sequentially for the lower, low (or high group), and higher groups. Positive externalization was the highest in children with higher self-esteem. Latent profile analysis distinguished the latent categories of children's self-esteem and provided a new perspective for research on this field. Improving self-esteem can reduce negative emotions and behavior, but it does not increase positive emotions and behavior.