Validity and Reliability of the Arabic Version of the Self-report Single-item Self-esteem Scale (A-SISE)

Background: Meta-analytic findings documented a substantial impact of self-esteem on a broad range of psychological and behavioral indicators, thus highlighting its high clinical relevance. Proving a simple and cost-effective measure of global self-esteem to the Arabic-speaking community, who mostly live in low- and middle-income countries, and where research may be challenging, would be highly valuable. In this context, we sought to investigate the psychometric characteristics of an Arabic translation of the Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale (A-SISE) in terms of factor structure, reliability, and construct validity.

Methods: A total of 451 participants were enrolled between October and December 2022. An anonymous self-administered Google Forms link was shared on WhatsApp. To examine the factor structure of the A-SISE, we used the FACTOR software. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), using a principal component analysis on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) items first, then after adding the A-SISE.

Results: The results of the EFA of the RSES revealed two factors (F1 = negatively-worded items; F2 = positively-worded items), which explained 60.63% of the common variance. When adding the A-SISE, the two-factor solution obtained explained 58.74% of the variance, with the A-SISE loading on the second factor. Both RSES and A-SISE correlated significantly and positively with each other, as well as with extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, open mindedness and satisfaction with life. Moreover, they correlated significantly and negatively with negative emotionality and depression.

Conclusion: These results suggest that the A-SISE is a simple-to-use, cost-effective, valid and reliable measure of self-esteem. We thus recommend its use in future research among Arabic-speaking people in Arab clinical and research settings, particularly when researchers are limited by time or resources constraints.