Abstract:
Recently, researchers have questioned a long-assumed link between violent behavior and low self-esteem by suggesting that violence relates to high self-esteem rather than low self-esteem. This study compared self-esteem, stability of self-esteem, and narcissism of 20 male offenders on parole for violent offenses to 20 male offenders on parole for nonviolent offenses. The results showed there was no difference between self-esteem, stability of self-esteem, or narcissism of violent parolees and nonviolent parolees. High self-esteem appears not to be related to tendencies to commit violent acts. Also, this study found narcissism did not correlate with self-esteem. This implies self-esteem and narcissism have two different meanings.
