Edward J. O’Brien, Ph.D., professor in the Psychology and Counseling department at Marywood University, and lead author of the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (MSEI) professional manual, has had his work translated into the Persian Language. This is the ninth language, other than English, where the MSEI is in use. Other earlier translations of the MSEI include Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish, and Indonesian. Additionally, his MSEI tool has been used in research conducted throughout the United States and 37 other countries.

The MSEI, based on a coherent model of self-concept and self-esteem, measures global self-esteem and its eight components, including competence, lovability, likability, personal power, self-control, moral self-approval, body appearance, and body functioning.

Thirty-two years ago, in the summer of 1988, the MSEI was published by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., based on the dissertation of Dr. Ed O’Brien and eight years of post-dissertation additional research. Dr. O’Brien served as department chair of the Psychology and Counseling Department for 13 years and served for two years as director of clinical training in the Psy.D. clinical psychology program.Dr. Sy Epstein at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was the second author of the MSEI publication. Psychological Assessment Resources is a highly selective publisher of psychological tests and, during the year when the MSEI was submitted for editorial review, the company accepted only two percent of the manuscripts that authors submitted for possible publication.

Since the MSEI was initially based on Dr. O’Brien’s dissertation, the wide use of the MSEI in dissertation research has been of particular interest. The MSEI has been cited in 104 dissertations completed at 71 universities in eleven different countries. Seven dissertations at Marywood University have cited the MSEI, including the dissertation of Mia Bartoletti, the first graduate of the Marywood doctoral program in clinical psychology. The current bibliography of publications that have cited the MSEI includes 438 sources.

For those interested in how the MSEI has been used, a copy of the bibliography can be downloaded at parinc.com/Products/Pkey/255. For additional information about Marywood University’s psychology and counseling department, please visit marywood.edu/psychology-counseling/index.html, or call the Office of Admissions, at (570) 348-6234.