Relationship between Self-Esteem and Self-Consciousness in Adolescents: An Eye-Tracking Study

Self-esteem and self-consciousness are important determinants of behaviors. This study aimed to explore the relationship between self-esteem and self-consciousness in adolescents using the eye-tracking measurement. Fifty-five adolescents with high self-esteem and 58 adolescents with low self-esteem participated in self-consciousness-related eye-tracking experiments of selecting happy, disgusted, and angry facial emotions while recognizing one's own usual expressions and the others' usual expressions toward oneself. When recognizing one's own, adolescents with high self-esteem showed significantly more selection counts and longer fixation time for 'happy' than adolescents with low self-esteem. When recognizing the others', adolescents with low self-esteem showed significantly more selection counts and longer fixation time for 'disgusted' and 'angry' than adolescents with high self-esteem. These suggest higher self-esteem is connected to more positive identification of one's usual expressions and others' usual expressions toward oneself. There is a close relationship among low self-esteem, suppressing positive emotions, decreased psychological adjustment, and increased negative emotions.