e development and maintenance of self-esteem. These variables included the ratio of positive to negative self-statements, frequency of positive self-statements, frequency of negative self-statements, locus of control (the extent to which one attributes life events and conditions to internal factors such as ability, motivation, and so forth or to external agents such as fate, chance or luck) and depression.
Of primary interest was the relationship between self-statements and self-esteem as well as whether locus of control exerted an influence on this relationship. The sample used in this study consisted of 145 undergraduate students between the age of 14 to 53.
All subjects in the study were asked to complete the Automatic Thought Questionnaire-Revised, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-Adult Form, the Rotter Internal-External Control Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results of Philpot's (1994) study indicated that there was a significant relationship between self-statements and self-esteem; however, locus of control was not shown to be significantly related to self-esteem or self-statements.
A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the ratio of positive to negative self-statements accounted for 51 percent of the variance in predicting self-esteem. Scores on the Beck Depression Inventory accounted for an additional 2 percent of the total variance. Specifically, it was found that self-esteem was strong among students whose self-talk primarily consisted of statements about their competency and self-worth whereas self-esteem was low among students whose self-talk essentially consisted of statements about lack of worth or competency.
Although there has not been a great deal of self-statement research using samples of athletes, Van Noord (1984) did examine type and frequency of self-talk in a sample of tennis players using the Self-Talk Questionnaire (STQ-3). A total of 302 male and female t...