Participants

The Korean version [³²] of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale [³³] was administered to 573 second-year students (16 years old; 209 males and 364 females) in two high schools in South Korea to screen out a total of 60 male and 60 female adolescents in the upper and lower percentiles of the self-esteem scores. The scores ranged from 35 to 40 points (referred to as “High SE group”) and from 17 to 28 points (referred to as “Low SE group”), respectively, and corresponded to the upper and lower 13th percentiles in male adolescents and 8th percentiles in female adolescents. They were subjected to a behavioral experiment and the assessment of additional questionnaires. After excluding those with eyesight problems and with missing responses, a total of 55 male adolescents (27 in High SE group, 28 in Low SE group) and 58 female adolescents (28 in High SE group, 30 in Low SE group) were included in the analysis. This study has been approved by the local Institutional Review Board Committee (3-2014-0257), and all participants signed a written informed consent.