self esteem

Introduction

Self-esteem, a critical aspect of psychological well-being, has been extensively studied across various domains. It is often conceptualized as an outcome, a motive, and a buffer against negative emotions. This synthesis aims to present key insights from multiple research papers on self-esteem, focusing on its development, stability, personality correlates, and the implications of striving for self-esteem.

Key Insights

Development and Stability of Self-Esteem:
- Self-esteem generally increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, peaks around age 50-60, and then declines in old age .
- Self-esteem shows substantial continuity over time, with stability comparable to personality traits, though it is lower during childhood and old age .
Personality Correlates:
- High self-esteem is associated with emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and to a lesser extent, agreeableness and openness to experience.
- Individuals with high self-esteem tend to ascribe socially desirable traits to themselves, partially mediating the relationship between personality traits and self-esteem.
Self-Esteem as a Social and Psychological Construct:
- Self-esteem functions as a monitor of social acceptance, motivating behaviors that enhance relational evaluation and avoid social devaluation.
- High self-esteem is linked with psychological health benefits, effective coping with illness, and satisfactory social relationships.
Self-Presentational Motivations:
- High self-esteem is often associated with a self-enhancing presentation, characterized by risk acceptance and focus on positive qualities, while low self-esteem is linked to a self-protective presentation, characterized by risk aversion and focus on avoiding negative qualities.
Costs and Benefits of Pursuing Self-Esteem:
- The pursuit of self-esteem can have short-term emotional benefits but may lead to long-term costs, such as undermining learning, relatedness, autonomy, and mental and physical health.
Genetic and Environmental Influences:
- Genetic influences on self-esteem are substantial, while shared environmental influences are minimal. Non-shared environmental influences explain the largest amount of variance in self-esteem.

Conclusion

The research on self-esteem highlights its developmental trajectory, stability, and significant personality correlates. Self-esteem is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors and serves as a crucial monitor of social acceptance. While high self-esteem is generally beneficial, the pursuit of self-esteem can have both positive and negative consequences. Understanding these dynamics is essential for developing effective interventions and policies aimed at enhancing self-esteem and overall psychological well-being.

Summary

Introduction

Key Insights

Conclusion

Sources and full results

A Theory of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is a necessary and result of the self-verification process within groups, maintaining individuals and the group by increasing worth-based and efficacy-based self-esteem and buffering negative emotions during self-verification challenges.

Stability of self-esteem across the life span.

Self-esteem shows substantial continuity over time, with a developmental trend of low stability in childhood, increasing in adolescence and young adulthood, and declining in midlife and old age.

Self-Presentational Motivations and Personality Differences in Self-Esteem

High self-esteem is associated with self-enhancing presentation, while low self-esteem is associated with self-protective presentation, and past findings with self-esteem scales may be interpreted in self-presentational terms.

The Development of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, peaks at age 50-60, and is a relatively stable trait that predicts success and well-being in relationships, work, and health throughout life.

Personality Correlates of Self-Esteem

High self-esteem is linked to emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, with these traits partially mediating the relationship across age, sex, social class, ethnicity, and nationality.

The Politics of Self-Esteem

Promoting self-esteem in education is often a desirable goal, but it's crucial to consider the ideological orientations and cultural norms before implementing it in policy and practice.

Self-Esteem Development Across the Lifespan

Self-esteem generally begins high in childhood, drops during adolescence, rises gradually throughout adulthood, and declines sharply in old age, with some stability.

The costly pursuit of self-esteem.

The importance of self-esteem is in how people strive for it, rather than its high or low status, as it can undermine learning, relatedness, autonomy, and self-regulation, with long-term costs outweighing short-term benefits.

Making Sense of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem evolved as a monitor of social acceptance, with the self-esteem motive functioning to avoid social devaluation and rejection, rather than maintaining self-esteem itself.

Self‐esteem: a behavioural genetic perspective

Genetic influences on self-esteem are substantial, with non-shared environmental influences explaining the largest amount of variance in self-esteem.

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