Self-esteem and Hopelessness as Predictors of Emotional Difficulties: A Cross-sectional Study among Adolescents in Kosovo

The growing prevalence of emotional difficulties among adolescents represents an important public health issue for several countries, especially those with relatively young population such as Kosovo. The main research question of the present study is whether self-esteem and hopelessness are significant predictors of emotional difficulties among adolescents in Kosovo. The purpose of the study was to investigate the level of emotional difficulties among adolescents in Kosovo and determine whether self-esteem and hopelessness serve as significant predictors of these difficulties. Participants were 1162 adolescents aged between 11 and 20 years old (M=16.37; SD=1.58); in terms of gender composition, there were girls 593 (51%), boys 535 (46%) . The measures used included the Albanian versions of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman,1997), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg,1965) and the Hopelessness scale for children (Kazdin et al., 1986). Results indicated that 16.3% of participants reported abnormal levels of emotional difficulties, 52.7% reported low self-esteem and 19.6% reported high hopelessness levels. Emotional difficulties were significantly predicted by hopelessness (β= .272, p<.00), self-esteem (β= .112, p<.00), gender (β= .258, p<.00), and residence (β= .128, p<.00). Together these variables explained 17% of the variance in emotional difficulties. The study found relatively high levels of emotional difficulties especially in mid-adolescence. Findings suggested that self-esteem and hopelessness might partially explain emotional difficulties. Despite the low statistical power of findings it is important to investigate these relationships in future research, especially when considering that more than half the sample reported low self-esteem and almost 1/5 reported high hopelessness.