The article proposes a cross-cultural adaptation (Herdman, Fox-Rushby & Badia, 1998) of "Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale" for adolescents who live in an urban neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro (São Gonçalo). The sample was composed of 266 adolescents, students of the 7th/ 8th grade of Elementary School and of the 1st/2nd grade of High School, of public and private schools of São Gonçalo/RJ. The following equivalences were evaluated: conceptual and itens equivalences, semantic equivalence (referential and general meaning), measurement equivalence (test-retest reliability, internal consistency, factorial analysis and construct validity) and operational and functional equivalences. Good results were obtained for semantics equivalence, alpha of Cronbach was of 0.68, the Kappa was moderate and regular, and the factorial analysis proposed two structures of factors (low and high self-esteem). Construct validity showed significant positive correlation with social support and negative correlation with psychological abuse, violence between parents and brothers. The results indicate the applicability of the scale in a reference population, suggesting the necessity to develop others studies in distinct samples.
Self-esteem; Scale; Reliability; Validity
