Adaptation of The Self-Esteem Scale into Kyrgyz Culture

Self-esteem is related to the way how person loves, accepts and respects himself. The ratio of one’s desired ideal features and real ones determines the level of self-esteem. Since self-esteem is related to all aspects of the individual's life, it has been the subject of many researches in social sciences. However, there is no tool, which could measure self-esteem in Kyrgyz society. The purpose of this study is to gain a valid and reliable self-esteem scale that Kyrgyz scientists and educators can use. In this study the adaptation process of the scale, which originally was developed in one culture, into another culture, was lead in accordance with certain requirements. In this context, the necessary permission was taken for the adaptation of the original scale and later analyses related to the translation study and the reliability of the translation were applied. Appropriate samples were determined for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and the formed models were tested with appropriate statistical techniques. Data were collected from three separate samples. The first sample group was formed to test the reliability of translation. The second sample group was formed to make exploratory analysis, while the third sample group was formed to collect data for confirmatory factor analysis. The total sample size of the three studies was 670. At the end of the research it was determined that Self-Esteem Scale Load values of Kyrgyz version ranged from 0,775 to 0,876 for self-value factor; from 0,822 to 0,911 for self-confidence factor; from 0,780 to 0,917 for depressive affect factor; from 0,804 to 0,876 for self-sufficiency factor; from 0,777 to 0,859 for achievement and productivity factor. Self-esteem scale in Kyrgyz has shown the following level 2 goodness-of-fit results: NFI .963, TLI .971, IFI .986, RMSEA .000, GFI .958, AGFI .950, RMR .000. In general, the results show that the goodness-of-fit results are quite good. Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients of self-esteem scale in Kyrgyz ranged from .855 to .939. Basing on above mentioned results it can be concluded that the Kyrgyz self-esteem scale is a valid and reliable tool that can be used by Kyrgyz educators and researcher