Individual Differences In Self-esteem Research Articles

Individual Differences in Self-Esteem in Response to Different Forms of Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is a dynamic interactive process, yet previous research has mostly focus on the effect of different social exclusions in general terms. In this study, we investigated that whether peoples self-esteem after different categories of social exclusions is moderated by individual differences in Rejection Sensitivity. Participants are first engaged in a Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey & Feldman, 1996) and an explicit self-esteem measurement. After a few weeks, they finished an explicit self-esteem measurement questionnaire which involved one of three kinds of social exclusion occasions. Each questionnaire pointed out the same situation: the participants met a friendly stranger at the weekend party and wanted to deepen their relationship. However, they all received different types of rejection and were in the exclusion condition. Implication of this research is to understand how individual differences in Rejection Sensitivity will affect the consequences in three circumstances of social exclusions: explicit rejection, ostracism, and ambiguous rejection. We expect to find that people with different rejection sensitivity will have different fluctuations in self-esteem in the face of three kinds of social exclusion. For example, people with high rejection sensitivity may suffer a more serious blow to their self-esteem in the face of direct rejection since they feel more anxious and sensitive to being rejected.

Individual differences in self-esteem and social anxiety predict problem smartphone use in adolescents

Smartphones have many characteristics that make them attractive to adolescents. Recent work, however, has established a link between smartphone-related problems and self-esteem (self-worth) and social anxiety (fear of social relations). To date, little is known about the characteristics underpinning these relationships in combination. Driven by theory, the present study examined the association between self-esteem, social anxiety, and nomophobia (fear of being without access to a smartphone) and problem smartphone use (PSU) in a sample of early adolescents ( N = 254). Self-esteem (Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale), social anxiety (Social Avoidance and Distress Scale) and their combined contribution (self-esteem × social anxiety) served as predictor variables of nomophobia (Nomophobia Questionnaire) and PSU (Mobile Phone Problem Usage Scale – Adolescent version) in separate moderated regression analyses. We found that lower self-esteem was associated with higher nomophobia and PSU, and that higher self-esteem may be a protective factor in those lower in social anxiety, such that they are not prone to excessive smartphone use. Our findings offer preliminary markers for psychologists addressing the challenges related to excessive smartphone use in this age group.

Linking classmate autonomy support with prosocial behavior in Chinese left-behind adolescents: The moderating role of self-esteem and grit

Framed in a positive youth development framework, the current study examines the association of classmate autonomy support with prosocial behavior in Chinese left-behind adolescents (i.e., adolescents who remain immobile in original regions when one or both of their parents have migrated to find work). Moreover, this study investigates whether left-behind adolescents' individual differences in self-esteem and grit moderated this association. To address these research aims, we examined these associations across two independent samples of left-behind adolescents [Study 1 (exploratory): N = 333, Mage = 13.16, SD = 1.67; 48.3% girls; Study 2 (confirmatory): N = 246, Mage = 15.78, SD = 1.50; 53.6% girls] recruited from different regions of mainland China. Study 1 showed that classmate autonomy support was positively correlated with prosocial behavior; self-esteem and grit moderated this association: for adolescents with low self-esteem, high grit was an important protective factor, fostering the positive association between classmate autonomy support and prosocial behavior. Furthermore, Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 but also exhibited that, for adolescents with high self-esteem, high grit significantly buffered against the negative effect of low classmate autonomy support on adolescents' prosocial behavior. Taken together, the current study suggests that classmate autonomy support plays a crucial role in facilitating left-behind youths' prosocial behavior, and this association is differentiated by adolescents' self-esteem and grit.

Generalizing effects of frontostriatal structural connectivity on self-esteem using predictive modeling

Determining the generalizability of biological mechanisms supporting psychological constructs is a central goal of cognitive neuroscience. Self-esteem is a popular psychological construct that is associated with a variety of measures of mental health and life satisfaction. Recently, there has been interest in identifying biological mechanisms that support individual differences in self-esteem. Understanding the biological basis of self-esteem requires identifying predictive biomarkers of self-esteem that generalize across groups of individuals. Previous research using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging has shown that self-esteem is related to the integrity of structural connections linking frontostriatal brain systems involved in self-referential processing and reward. However, these findings were based on a small, relatively homogeneous group of participants. In the current study, we used an out-of-sample predictive modeling approach to generalize the results of the previous study to an independent sample of participants more than twice the size of the original study. We found that both linear univariate and multivariate machine learning models trained on frontostriatal integrity from the original data significantly predicted self-esteem in the independent dataset. These findings underscore the relationship between self-esteem and frontostriatal connectivity and suggest these results are robust to differences in scanning acquisition, analytic methods, and participant demographics.

Different respect motivates different people: How self-esteem moderates the effects of respect on performance

This paper explores how treating people respectfully affects performance and work effort based on individual differences in self-esteem. Appraisal respect encompasses admiration for skills and abilities, and recognition respect reflects treating people in accordance with their human rights. The findings show that extant self-esteem moderates the impact of respect on performance and work effort. A laboratory study using actors to express recognition respect shows that implicit self-esteem moderates recognition respect in a self-verifying manner: People with low implicit self-esteem perform better, whereas those with high implicit self-esteem perform worse when treated with low levels of recognition respect. In contrast, explicit self-esteem moderates appraisal respect in a self-enhancement manner. People with higher explicit self-esteem perform better when they receive low levels of appraisal respect as operationalized by performance feedback. A second study surveys working adults in order to extend the findings to work effort. This study juxtaposes the two types of self-esteem. People with congruent implicit/explicit self-esteem expend more work effort when they experience recognition respect, and those with incongruent self-esteem expend more effort when they experience appraisal respect. These findings integrate self-esteem and respect theory to explain how respectful treatment affects performance.

Separating thoughts from the self by selling them to others: the moderating role of self-esteem / Separar los pensamientos del yo al venderlos a otros: el rol moderador de la autoestima

This research introduces a new approach for separating people from their thoughts by anticipating selling them to others. Participants were asked to write down either positive or negative thoughts about fast food on different pieces of paper. Then, participants were randomly assigned to role-play the part of either potential buyers or sellers for an advertising campaign. Finally, all participants indicated their self-esteem (as an additional predictor) and their attitudes towards fast food (as the dependent measure). For high self-esteem participants, anticipating selling thoughts to others reduced the impact of thoughts on attitudes, suggesting that distancing thoughts from a location with high validity (the self) reduced the perceived value of their thoughts. In contrast, for low self-esteem participants, anticipating selling thoughts increased their usage, suggesting that separating thoughts from a location with low validity (the self) increased the perceived value of those thoughts. These findings suggest that thoughts can be associated with high or low validity depending on individual differences in self-esteem.

Religiosity and interpersonal problems explain individual differences in self esteem among young adults with child maltreatment experiences

Child maltreatment can have a lasting impact, which is why it is important to understand factors that may exacerbate or mitigate self-esteem difficulties in adulthood. Although there is tremendous benefit that can come from religion and spirituality, few studies examine religious views after child maltreatment. Subsequent interpersonal difficulties may also affect self-esteem in maltreatment survivors. This study sought to examine interpersonal problems and religiosity as mediators in the link between childhood maltreatment and self-esteem in adulthood. The study recruited 718 women (M = 19.53 years) from a large public university. Participants completed questionnaires related to child abuse and neglect, interpersonal problems, religiosity, and self-esteem. Results demonstrated that all forms of maltreatment were associated with negative views of God and with more interpersonal difficulties. Viewing God as a punishing figure mediated the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and low adult self-esteem, along with several areas associated with interpersonal problems. Further, for both child emotional neglect and physical abuse, viewing God as less supportive mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and low adult self-esteem. The results may help in intervention for child maltreatment survivors by increasing awareness of the importance of religiosity in treatment to self-esteem issues in both childhood and adulthood.

The family environment in early childhood has a long-term effect on self-esteem: A longitudinal study from birth to age 27 years.

A better understanding is needed of the factors that shape the development of individual differences in self-esteem. Using a prospective longitudinal design, this research tested whether the family environment in early childhood predicts self-esteem in later developmental periods. Data came from a nationally representative U.S. sample of 8,711 participants, who reported on their self-esteem biannually from age 8 to 27 years. Moreover, during the participants' first 6 years of life, biannual assessments of their mothers provided information on the quality of the home environment (covering quality of parenting, cognitive stimulation, and physical home environment), quality of parental relationship, presence of father, maternal depression, and poverty status of the family. The analyses were conducted using nonlinear regression analyses of age-dependent correlation coefficients, which were controlled for the effects of child gender and ethnicity. The results suggested that the family environment in early childhood significantly predicted self-esteem as the children grew up. Although the effects became smaller with age, the effects were still present during young adulthood. The largest effects emerged for quality of home environment. Moreover, the results suggested that the effects of home environment, presence of father, and poverty are enduring, as indicated by a nonzero asymptote in the time course of effects from age 8 to 27 years. Finally, quality of home environment partially accounted for the effects of the other predictors. The findings suggest that the home environment is a key factor in early childhood that influences the long-term development of self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record

Self-esteem, relationship threat, and dependency regulation: Independent replication of Murray, Rose, Bellavia, Holmes, and Kusche (2002) Study 3

Across three studies, Murray, Rose, Bellavia, Holmes, and Kusche (2002) found that low self-esteem individuals responded in a negative manner compared to those high in self-esteem in the face of relationship threat, perceiving their partners and relationships less positively. This was the first empirical support for the hypothesized dynamics of a dependency regulation perspective, and has had a significant impact on the field of relationship science. In the present research, we sought to reproduce the methods and procedures of Study 3 of Murray et al. (2002) to further test the two-way interaction between individual differences in self-esteem and situational relationship threat. Manipulation check effects replicated the original study, but no interaction between self-esteem and experimental condition was observed for any primary study outcomes.

Performance feedback, self-esteem, and cardiovascular adaptation to recurring stressors

ABSTRACTBackground and Objectives: This study sought to examine the effects of performance feedback and individual differences in self-esteem on cardiovascular habituation to repeat stress exposure.Methods: Sixty-six university students (n = 39 female) completed a self-esteem measure and completed a cardiovascular stress-testing protocol involving repeated exposure to a mental arithmetic task. Cardiovascular functioning was sampled across four phases: resting baseline, initial stress exposure, a recovery period, and repeated stress exposure. Participants were randomly assigned to receive fictional positive feedback, negative feedback, or no feedback following the recovery period.Results: Negative feedback was associated with a sensitized blood pressure response to a second exposure of the stress task. Positive feedback was associated with decreased cardiovascular and psychological responses to a second exposure. Self-esteem was also found to predict reactivity and this interacted with the type of feedback received.Conclusions: These findings suggest that negative performance feedback sensitizes cardiovascular reactivity to stress, whereas positive performance feedback increases both cardiovascular and psychological habituation to repeat exposure to stressors. Furthermore, an individual’s self-esteem also appears to influence this process.

Global self-esteem and the processing of positive information about the self

We examined undergraduate participants' (N=98) self-related cognitive response to positive information about the self and how this response is related to global self-esteem and trait anxiety. Positive information about the self was defined as information that attributes positive qualities to the self or positive experiences for the self. The responses were measured by an open-ended questionnaire containing 12 scenarios. Self-esteem correlated positively with positive self-verification and self-focused positive construal of the event, and negatively with negative self-verification and self-focused negative construal of the event. All the four forms of self-focused cognitive responses made unique contributions to the prediction of self-esteem.Mediational analysis suggested that self-focused negative construal of positive information about the self might partially account for the link between self-esteem and trait anxiety. The findings in this study underscore the importance of studying cognitive responses to positive events for understanding individual differences in self-esteem and trait anxiety.

Structural integrity of frontostriatal connections predicts longitudinal changes in self-esteem

ABSTRACTDiverse neurological and psychiatric conditions are marked by a diminished sense of positive self-regard, and reductions in self-esteem are associated with risk for these disorders. Recent evidence has shown that the connectivity of frontostriatal circuitry reflects individual differences in self-esteem. However, it remains an open question as to whether the integrity of these connections can predict self-esteem changes over larger timescales. Using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography, we demonstrate that the integrity of white matter pathways linking the medial prefrontal cortex to the ventral striatum predicts changes in self-esteem 8 months after initial scanning in a sample of 30 young adults. Individuals with greater integrity of this pathway during the scanning session at Time 1 showed increased levels of self-esteem at follow-up, whereas individuals with lower integrity showed stifled or decreased levels of self-esteem. These results provide evidence that frontostriatal white matter integrity predicts the trajectory of self-esteem development in early adulthood, which may contribute to blunted levels of positive self-regard seen in multiple psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety.

Dispositional optimism and self-esteem as competing predictors of acute symptoms of generalized anxiety disorders and dissociative experiences among civilians exposed to war trauma.

Although previous studies have rarely examined predictors of acute emotional responses to war trauma, this "natural laboratory" study aimed to examine the role that individual differences in dispositional optimism and self-esteem play in the development of acute symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and dissociative experiences. A sample of 140 female adults exposed to missile and rocket fire during an eruption of violence in the Middle East in November 2012 was assessed during real-time exposure. The results demonstrate inverse associations between dispositional optimism and acute symptoms of GAD and dissociation. The associations were accounted for by individual differences in self-esteem. In addition, individuals with low levels of dispositional optimism demonstrated a higher risk for acute GAD and dissociative experiences, in part because of their low levels of self-esteem. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Multimodal frontostriatal connectivity underlies individual differences in self-esteem.

A heightened sense of self-esteem is associated with a reduced risk for several types of affective and psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and eating disorders. However, little is known about how brain systems integrate self-referential processing and positive evaluation to give rise to these feelings. To address this, we combined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test how frontostriatal connectivity reflects long-term trait and short-term state aspects of self-esteem. Using DTI, we found individual variability in white matter structural integrity between the medial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum was related to trait measures of self-esteem, reflecting long-term stability of self-esteem maintenance. Using fMRI, we found that functional connectivity of these regions during positive self-evaluation was related to current feelings of self-esteem, reflecting short-term state self-esteem. These results provide convergent anatomical and functional evidence that self-esteem is related to the connectivity of frontostriatal circuits and suggest that feelings of self-worth may emerge from neural systems integrating information about the self with positive affect and reward. This information could potentially inform the etiology of diminished self-esteem underlying multiple psychiatric conditions and inform future studies of evaluative self-referential processing.

Individual differences in self esteem and narcissistic aggression: An experimental investigation of cognitive biases

The theory of threatened egotism proposes that narcissistic aggression is triggered by threats to the grandiose self-view. However, the theory of self-esteem defence as a function of narcissistic aggression is questionable. Therefore, the present study was an experimental investigation of cognitive bias that may underlie aggressive narcissistic traits. Participants ( N = 80) completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) and then performed a series of response priming tasks. A negative or positive self-esteem prime was displayed momentarily (35 ms) between sandwich masking followed by a hostile, neutral or non-word. Participants had to rapidly and accurately decide if a word or non-word had been presented. Comparisons between NPI and RSES scores, reaction time and stimulus-onset asynchrony were examined. The results are discussed in terms of the automatic operation of self-esteem defence as a function of narcissistic aggression.

Who Is Most Vulnerable to Social Rejection? The Toxic Combination of Low Self-Esteem and Lack of Negative Emotion Differentiation on Neural Responses to Rejection

People have a fundamental need to belong that, when satisfied, is associated with mental and physical well-being. The current investigation examined what happens when the need to belong is thwarted—and how individual differences in self-esteem and emotion differentiation modulate neural responses to social rejection. We hypothesized that low self-esteem would predict heightened activation in distress-related neural responses during a social rejection manipulation, but that this relationship would be moderated by negative emotion differentiation—defined as adeptness at using discrete negative emotion categories to capture one's felt experience. Combining daily diary and neuroimaging methodologies, the current study showed that low self-esteem and low negative emotion differentiation represented a toxic combination that was associated with stronger activation during social rejection (versus social inclusion) in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula—two regions previously shown to index social distress. In contrast, individuals with greater negative emotion differentiation did not show stronger activation in these regions, regardless of their level of self-esteem; fitting with prior evidence that negative emotion differentiation confers equanimity in emotionally upsetting situations.

The Long-Term Stability of Self-Esteem

How stable are individual differences in self-esteem? We examined the time-dependent decay of rank-order stability of self-esteem and tested whether stability asymptotically approaches zero or a nonzero value across long test-retest intervals. Analyses were based on 6 assessments across a 29-year period of a sample of 3,180 individuals aged 14 to 102 years. The results indicated that, as test-retest intervals increased, stability exponentially decayed and asymptotically approached a nonzero value (estimated as .43). The exponential decay function explained a large proportion of variance in observed stability coefficients, provided a better fit than alternative functions, and held across gender and for all age groups from adolescence to old age. Moreover, structural equation modeling of the individual-level data suggested that a perfectly stable trait component underlies stability of self-esteem. The findings suggest that the stability of self-esteem is relatively large, even across very long periods, and that self-esteem is a trait-like characteristic.

Using trait–state models to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of global self-esteem from adolescence to adulthood

The present research used a latent variable trait–state model to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of self-esteem during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analyses were based on ten administrations of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) spanning the ages of approximately 13–32 for a sample of 451 participants. Results indicated that a completely stable trait factor and an autoregressive trait factor accounted for the majority of the variance in latent self-esteem assessments, whereas state factors accounted for about 16% of the variance in repeated assessments of latent self-esteem. The stability of individual differences in self-esteem increased with age consistent with the cumulative continuity principle of personality development.

Self-esteem modulates dorsal anterior cingulate cortical response in self-referential processing

Self-esteem can be defined as evaluations that individuals make about their worth as human beings. These evaluations are in part based on how we evaluate ourselves on our abilities, values, opinions, etc. compared with others or our past or ideal self; and they are also influenced by a thought that what others may think about us. Studies to date investigating the neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in self-esteem have focused mostly on the latter process (i.e. on how self-esteem is associated with neural correlates of processing feedback from others). However, given that people spend a lot of time thinking about themselves and evaluating their worth, we aimed to investigate neural mechanism underlying the association between levels of self-esteem and processing of self-relevant information. Seventeen participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan during which they were asked to evaluate whether a given statement is true about them (Self), an acquaintance of theirs (Other), or about general knowledge (Semantic). A whole brain correlational analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between levels of self-esteem and changes in activation of dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (dACC, BA32) in response to evaluating self-relevant information (Self versus Other contrast). This result extends previous findings implicating this region in the association between processing evaluative feedback and levels of self-esteem and suggests that activity in this region is affected by self-esteem levels also when individuals are engaged in self-referencing and self-evaluation. Future studies should investigate whether these associations are affected differently based on valence of self-evaluations.

Across the (Not So) Great Divide: Cultural Similarities in Self-Evaluative Processes

Although it is widely assumed that East Asians and Westerners evaluate themselves differently, there is much support for cultural convergences. In this article, I review evidence showing that in both cultures (and to a largely comparable degree), people (a) experience high feelings of self-regard; (b) view themselves and loved ones in highly positive terms; and (c) exhibit self-serving biases that promote feelings of self-worth. Moreover, in both cultures (and to a largely comparable degree), individual differences in self-esteem predict (d) psychological well-being and (e) emotional regulation in response to negative outcomes. These commonalities suggest that self-love is a universal human motivation.