A three-wave longitudinal study of self-evaluations during young adulthood

Abstract

This investigation provides much needed data on stability and change in self-evaluations during young adulthood. The Messer and Harter [Messer, B. & Harter, S. (1986). Manual for the adult self-perception profile. Unpublished manuscript. Department of Psychology, University of Denver] Adult Self-Perception Profile was given to a sample of over 400 young adults in 1999, 2001, and 2003. Several conclusions emerged from this study. Generally speaking, domain-specific self-evaluations showed rank-order consistency and very small normative changes during this interval. Nonetheless, there were individual differences in change in self-evaluations that warrant additional theoretical and empirical attention. In terms of the prediction of global self-esteem, physical self-esteem was one of the strongest independent predictors of global self-esteem. Finally, weighting domain specific self-evaluations by importance ratings did not consistently improve the prediction of global self-esteem. The implications of these results for understanding the psychological nature of young adulthood and for designing future studies using importance ratings are discussed.