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Abstract
This paper compares samples of 15-16-year-olds from the UK and France on their use of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg 1965) and on the relationships between total self-esteem and substance use. On all 10 of the scale items French students used the extreme ratings to a far greater extent than did UK students. However, the means and standard deviations obtained on adding up the 10 item scores were similar. In both countries, boys showed higher self-esteem than girls and heavy cigarette smoking was associated with low self-esteem. There were no other significant relationships between self-esteem and substance use for the French children, but there were several such, particularly for girls, in the UK.