Self-esteem Instability and Psychological Adjustment

Abstract

The psychological adjustment of individuals with stable and unstable forms of self-esteem was examined across three studies using undergraduate participants. Study 1 (N = 122) included indicators of global distress and aggression; Study 2 (N = 199) focused on depression, hopelessness, anxiety, and rejection sensitivity; and Study 3 (N = 183) examined global distress, affect, and psychological well-being. Across each study, unstable self-esteem was found to moderate the association between self-esteem level and psychological adjustment. The pattern of these findings suggests that individuals with unstable low self-esteem are especially likely to experience dejection, whereas those with unstable high self-esteem are likely to experience agitation.

Keywords:

• Adjustment
• Depression
• Fragile
• Self-esteem
• Unstable

Notes

In order to assess self-esteem instability, it is essential that participants complete multiple measures of state self-esteem. As a result, some minimum number of completed state self-esteem measures must be established in order for participants to be included in the analyses. The decision to only include participants in the final analyses who contributed data for three or more days follows the convention established in previous research (see Zeigler-Hill & Showers, 2007, for a similar strategy). Preliminary analyses using more stringent criteria (e.g., only including participants who completed daily measures for five days) revealed very similar patterns so we decided to use the cutoff that would allow us to adequately assess self-esteem instability and exclude as few participants as possible. This basic approach was also followed in Studies 2 and 3.