430 research outputs found
Is high self-esteem beneficial? Revisiting a classic question
Debates about the benefits of self-esteem have persisted for decades, both in the scientific literature and in the popular press. Although many researchers and lay people have argued that high self-esteem helps individuals adapt to and succeed in a variety of life domains, there is widespread skepticism about this claim. The present article takes a new look at the voluminous body of research (including several meta-analyses) examining the consequences of self-esteem for several important life domains: relationships, school, work, mental health, physical health, and antisocial behavior. Overall, the findings suggest that self-esteem is beneficial in all these domains, and that these benefits hold across age, gender, and race/ethnicity, and controlling for prior levels of the predicted outcomes and potential third variable confounds. The meta-analytic estimates of self-esteem effects (which average .10 across domains) are comparable in size to estimates for other hypothesized causal factors such as self-efficacy, positive emotionality, attachment security, and growth mindset, and larger than some generally accepted pharmaceutical interventions. Discussion focuses on several issues that are critical for evaluating the findings, including the strength of the evidence for making causal inferences, the magnitude of the effects, the importance of distinguishing between self-esteem and narcissism, and the generalizability of the results. In summary, the present findings support theoretical conceptions of self-esteem as an adaptive trait that has wide-ranging influences on healthy adjustment and adaptation, and suggest that interventions aimed at boosting self-esteem might, if properly designed and implemented, benefit individuals and society as a whole. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
The benefits of self-esteem: Reply to Krueger et al. (2022) and Brummelman (2022)
Krueger et al. (2022) argue that our review (Orth & Robins, 2022) finds benefits of self-esteem primarily for subjective outcomes and largely fails to demonstrate any "objective" benefits. We disagree with this portrayal of the findings and highlight research that provides evidence for the benefits of self-esteem using objective measures. We also address Krueger et al.'s claim that positivity bias in self-reports can account for the effects of self-esteem on subjectively assessed life outcomes, and explain how the statistical analyses used to document these effects substantially control for this bias. We maintain that there is now a large body of evidence from meta-analyses and large-scale longitudinal studies demonstrating that high self-esteem has adaptive consequences for social relationships, school, work, mental health, physical health, and antisocial behavior. Brummelman (2022) presents a compelling theoretical framework that can guide the design of interventions to improve children's self-esteem. We agree with his concerns about the need for randomized controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy of self-esteem interventions and the importance of ensuring that children's self-esteem can be raised without causing them to become narcissistic. The research reviewed in our article indicates that high self-esteem is adaptive for children, adolescents, and adults, suggesting that well-designed and effective self-esteem interventions might be beneficial for individuals of all ages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Low self-esteem prospectively predicts depression in adolescence and young adulthood
Low self-esteem and depression are strongly correlated in cross-sectional studies, yet little is known about their prospective effects on each other. The vulnerability model hypothesizes that low self-esteem serves as a risk factor for depression, whereas the scar model hypothesizes that low self-esteem is an outcome, not a cause, of depression. To test these models, the authors used 2 large longitudinal data sets, each with 4 repeated assessments between the ages of 15 and 21 years and 18 and 21 years, respectively. Cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem predicted subsequent levels of depression, but depression did not predict subsequent levels of self-esteem. These findings held for both men and women and after controlling for content overlap between the self-esteem and depression scales. Thus, the results supported the vulnerability model, but not the scar model, of self-esteem and depression
The Structure of Adolescent Temperament and Associations With Psychological Functioning: A Replication and Extension of Snyder et al. (2015)
The present study attempts to replicate and extend Snyder et al. (2015, JPSP). The original study examined the latent factor structure of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised (EATQ-R), a commonly used measure of adolescent temperament, and showed that the resulting latent factors (i.e., effortful control, negative emotionality, and positive emotionality) had theoretically meaningful concurrent associations with several measures of adolescent functioning (depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], relational aggression, and school performance and behavior). We performed these same analyses using data from a large sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674), and also examined prospective associations between the three EATQ-R factors and measures of adolescent functioning assessed two years later. We found some evidence supporting the bifactor models reported in the original study but poor replication of the correlations among latent factors. Additionally, model comparisons demonstrated that correlated factors models produced more interpretable factors than the bifactor models. In contrast, we replicated most of the concurrent correlations (and extended the findings to prospective associations) between the EATQ-R factors and measures of adolescent functioning, supporting the construct validity of the EATQ-R as a measure of adolescent temperament. Thus, these findings raise concerns about the generalizability of the factor structure identified by Snyder et al. (2015), but bolster claims about the generalizability of the concurrent and predictive validity of the EATQ-R. Overall, differences between the present findings and those of Snyder et al. (2015) highlight the importance of ongoing construct validation in youth temperament research, especially with participants from groups traditionally underrepresented in psychological research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Life satisfaction trajectories during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood: Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth.
Despite the importance of life satisfaction for health and well-being, there is a paucity of longitudinal studies tracking changes in life satisfaction in ethnic minority youth. In a sample of 674 Mexican-origin youth, the present research examined life satisfaction trajectories from middle (age 14) to late adolescence (age 17) and from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). On average, life satisfaction did not change significantly from age 14 to 17, and then decreased from age 17 to 21 (d = .30), perhaps reflecting difficulties transitioning into adult roles. Drawing on ecological systems theory, we examined both proximal (i.e., family) and distal (i.e., social-contextual) environmental factors (measured via self- and parent-reports) that may account for between-person variation in life satisfaction trajectories. Youth with more positive family environments in middle adolescence (age 14) had higher mean life satisfaction from middle adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). In contrast, youth with more negative family environments and who experienced greater economic hardship and more ethnic discrimination in middle adolescence (age 14) had lower life satisfaction during this period. Many of these factors also predicted change in life satisfaction from middle (age 14) to late adolescence (age 17), but not from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 21). This research extends the current understanding of life satisfaction during a critical developmental period in an understudied population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Bidirectional pathways between relational aggression and temperament from late childhood to adolescence
Relational aggression is linked to numerous adverse consequences. However, we know little about how temperament leads individuals to become perpetrators/victims of relational aggression, or how being a perpetrator/victim influences the development of temperament. We used longitudinal data from 674 Mexican-origin youth to examine relations between relational aggression and mother- and child-reported temperament from 5th grade (Mage=10.8; SD=0.60) through 11th grade (Mage=16.8; SD=0.50). Results show that: (a) high Negative Emotionality and low Effortful Control predicted increases in victimization; (b) low Effortful Control predicted increases in perpetration; (c) victims increased in Negative Emotionality and decreased in Effortful Control; and (d) perpetrators increased in Negative Emotionality and Surgency. Thus, temperament serves as both an antecedent to and a consequence of relational aggression
Ethnic Pride, Self-Esteem, and School Belonging: A Reciprocal Analysis Over Time
School belonging (i.e., social connectedness to school) has positive implications for academic achievement and well-being. However, few studies have examined the developmental antecedents of school belonging, particularly for students of Mexican origin. To address this gap in the research literature, the present study examined reciprocal relations between school belonging and two self-affirmation beliefs-self-esteem and ethnic pride-using data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin students followed from fifth to ninth grade (N = 674, Mage at Wave 1 = 10.4 years, 50% girls). Furthermore, we evaluated whether the associations were stronger for boys than girls. Using multiple group analysis in a structural equation modeling framework, results indicate that, among boys, ethnic pride was prospectively associated with increases in self-esteem, self-esteem was associated with increases in school belonging, and the direct association between ethnic pride and school belonging was bidirectional. For girls, ethnic pride was prospectively associated with later school belonging. Discussion focuses on the gender differences in observed effects and implications for school programs and interventions. (PsycINFO Database Recor
Refining the vulnerability model of low self-esteem and depression: Disentangling the effects of genuine self-esteem and narcissism.
Trajectories of temperament from late childhood through adolescence and associations with anxiety and depression in young adulthood
Anxiety and depression are pervasive and pernicious mental health problems for young adults. Developmental trajectories of adolescent temperament (Effortful Control, Negative Emotionality, and Positive Emotionality) may help us predict who will experience anxiety/depression during young adulthood. The present study used longitudinal data from a large, community sample of Mexican-origin youth ( N = 674) to examine how temperament develops across adolescence (age 10–16) and whether the developmental trajectories of temperament are associated with anxiety/depression during young adulthood (ages 19 and 21). Results indicate that Effortful Control, Negatively Emotionality, and the Affiliation facet of Positive Emotionality tend to decrease across adolescence, whereas Surgency tends to increase. Smaller decreases in Effortful Control and greater increases in Positive Emotionality across adolescence were associated with fewer anxiety/depression symptoms during young adulthood, whereas smaller decreases in Negative Emotionality were associated with more anxiety/depression symptoms later on. Thus, temperament development serves as both a protective factor (Effortful Control, Positive Emotionality) and a risk factor (Negative Emotionality) for later anxiety/depression in Mexican-origin youth
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