Developmental changes in inferiority feelings in adolescents and young adults: Important areas of the self

Abstract

The present study investigated developmental changes in inferiority feelings in adolescents and young adults, in relation to important areas of the self, using a cross-sectional design. Participants, junior high students (7 th, 8th, and 9th, grades, N = 204 ; average age 13.25), senior high students (10th, 11th, and 12 th grades, N = 173, average age 16.27), and university students (N = 172, average age 19.88), completed a questionnaire of 50 items measuring inferiority feelings that had been selected from a preliminary survey, and also wrote a description of important areas of the self. Factor analysis extracted the same 8 factors relating to inferiority feelings that had been extracted in the preliminary survey. The descriptions of the self were classified into 10 categories, and the relation between the important areas of the self and the inferiority feeling scores investigated. The results were as follows : (1) the junior high school students regarded intellectual abilities as an important area of the self, and had inferiority feelings regarding poor grades in the school, (2) the senior high students regarded personal attractiveness as an important area, and had inferiority feelings regarding bodily attractiveness, and (3) the university students regarded self-approval as an important area, and had inferiority feeling about the lack of social skills. However, those university students who regarded maturity as an important area did not have strong inferiority feelings.