Female Adolescent Prostitutes’ Cognitive Distortion, Self-Esteem and Depression

This study investigated the relationship between cognitive distortion, self-esteem and depression among female adolescents who were involved in prostitution in Malaysia. Subjects for this study were 42 adolescents aged between 15 and 20 years old. Four research instruments were used in this study; a set of questions for the demographic background of the subjects, Briere’s Cognitive Distortion Scale (CDS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS) for measuring cognitive distortion, self-esteem and depression, respectively. Data for this study were analyzed by using Pearson Correlation. Results of this study revealed that there was a significant negative correlation between cognitive distortion and self-esteem (r = .530, p 0.001), a negative significant correlation between depression and self-esteem (r = .522, p 0.001), and a significant positive correlation between cognitive distortion and depression (r = .712, p 0.001). Implications for counselling are also discussed