Self-Esteem Stability

Definition

Some people possess immediate feelings of self-worth that fluctuate considerably from day to day or even within a given day. These people are said to have unstable self-esteem. Other people possess immediate feelings of self-worth that rarely, if ever, change. These people are said to have stable self-esteem. Consider Ashley who, when asked to consider the question “How worthy a person do you feel at this moment?” each morning and evening for 5 days, gives answers that vary considerably from “I feel very worthy” to “I feel useless.” Ashley possesses unstable self-esteem. In contrast, Heather's responses to that same question remain essentially the same over the same period (“I feel very worthy”), as do Mark's responses (“I feel pretty useless”). Both Heather and Mark possess stable self-esteem. Importantly, considerable research indicates that the degree to which one's self-esteem is stable or unstable has important implications for one's psychological health and well-being.

Unstable Self-Esteem

Unstable self-esteem reflects fragile and vulnerable feelings of self-worth that are affected by positive and negative experiences that either are internally generated (i.e., a person's own negative self-evaluations) or externally provided (e.g., getting an A+ on an exam). Moreover, people with unstable self-esteem are said to be highly ego-involved in their everyday activities, which means that they experience their self-esteem as continually being on the line as they go about their lives. For example, whereas someone with unstable self-esteem feels stupid and worthless (reactions that imply negative feelings of self-worth) after receiving a poor grade, someone with stable self-esteem feels badly (e.g., feels disappointed or frustrated) about his or her performance without implicating his or her overall feelings of self-worth. Researchers have examined a number of implications of the heightened self-esteem investment of individuals with unstable self-esteem.

First, daily negative events have a greater adverse impact on individuals with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem. Researchers found that daily hassles (those irritating events that people experience at times, such as having too much work to do or not enough money to buy what they want), or doing poorly on an important exam, triggers greater increases in depressive symptoms among people with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem.

Second, people with unstable self-esteem are especially concerned about, and responsive to, potential self-esteem threats. Among sixth-grade children, those with unstable self-esteem report that they are more likely to get angry because of the self-esteem threat (e.g., feeling weak) rather than the goal-thwarting aspect (e.g., having to be thirsty longer) of negative interpersonal events (e.g., someone butting ahead of you in line at the water fountain).

Third, everyday positive and negative events have a greater immediate impact on the self-feelings of people with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem. When asked to rate the extent to which their most positive and negative daily events made them feel better or worse about themselves over a 2-week period, college students with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem reported that positive events made them feel better about themselves and negative events made them feel worse about themselves to a greater extent.

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