Abstract
Research regarding the variability of state self-esteem (SSE) commonly focuses on the magnitude of variability. In this article we provide the first empirical test of the temporalstructure of SSE as a real-time process during parent–adolescent interactions. We adopt a qualitative phenomenological approach, whereby moment-to-moment emotional and behavioral indicators of SSE are measured as they emerged during the interactions, resulting in SSE time series. We conducted detrended fluctuation analyses (DFA) on the SSE time series and found that they exhibited a form of structured variability, called pink noise. The mean DFA exponent differed significantly from that of randomized surrogate data (p < .01), which revealed uncorrelated random variability, called white noise. This finding shows that the temporal structure of SSE variability exhibits self-similarity and is not random. In addition, a weak positive relationship was found between the DFA and context-independent autonomy levels.
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