Rising High or Falling Deep? Pathways of Self–Esteem in a Representative German Sample
Open accessAbstract
In many longitudinal studies, self–esteem has been shown to increase up until around age 50 or 60 and to decrease thereafter. These studies have also found substantial inter–individual differences in the intra–individual development of self–esteem. In the current study, we examined whether this variation in change could be attributed to underlying latent classes of individuals following different trajectories of self–esteem development over time. By applying general growth mixture modelling to data from the representative German pairfam study (N = 12 377), four latent classes of self–esteem development across five years were extracted. Based on their mean levels, trajectories, and variability, individuals in the latent classes could be described as having (a) constant and stable high self–esteem (29.00% of the sample), (b) constant but variable moderate self–esteem (31.69%), (c) increasing and stabilizing self–esteem (15.13%), and (d) decreasing and variable self–esteem (24.18%). Furthermore, these latent classes differed in accordance with findings of prior research on self–rated, partner–rated, and objective correlates of the domains of health and well–being, partner relationships, and occupational status. Thus, the current study shows that inter–individual variation in intra–individual change in self–esteem is not random but reflects specific individual trajectories, or pathways, of self–esteem. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology
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Individuals seem to experience changes in self-esteem during life events for multiple, idiosyncratic reasons.
“Instead, individuals seem to experience changes in self-esteem during life events for multiple, idiosyncratic reasons (Jayawickreme et al., 2021;Mund & Neyer, 2016;Reitz et al., 2020).”
From Self‐esteem development and life events: A review and integrative process framework (2022) · cites this paper as Mund & Neyer, 2016
Cites
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TARGET ARTICLE: Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem
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“…self-esteem might be achieved by encouraging individuals to see themselves as persons of worth, independent of what they have achieved, rather than turning to external sources of validation such as having a well-paid job, academic degrees, or a perfect family (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003).”
BackgroundThe Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem
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“…shown that self-esteem increases throughout adulthood, peaks between age 50 and 60, and begins to decrease thereafter (Chung et al., 2014; Erol & Orth, 2011; Orth, Maes, & Schmitt, 2015; Orth, Robins, & Widaman, 2012; Orth, Trzesniewski, & Robins, 2010; Robins, Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, &…”
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BackgroundA Longitudinal Study of Self-Esteem: Implications for Adolescent Development
Zimmerman, M. A., Copeland, L. A., Shope, J. T., & Dielman, T. E. (1997) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1023/a:1024596313925 · Cited by 322 · see citing works
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The Long-Term Stability of Self-Esteem: Its Time-Dependent Decay and Nonzero Asymptote
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Development of self-esteem from age 4 to 94 years: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
Orth, U., Erol, R. Y., & Luciano, E. C. (2018) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000161 · Cited by 438 · see citing works
Work Experiences and Self-Esteem Development: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies
Krauss, S., & Orth, U. (2022) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1177/08902070211027142 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Self‐esteem development and life events: A review and integrative process framework
Reitz, A. K. (2022) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12709 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
“Instead, individuals seem to experience changes in self-esteem during life events for multiple, idiosyncratic reasons (Jayawickreme et al., 2021; Mund & Neyer, 2016; Reitz et al., 2020).”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Mund, M., & Neyer, F. J.
- Affiliations
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Mund, Marcus
- Venue
- European Journal of Personality
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-07
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 341-357
- ISSN
- 0890-2070 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0984
- OpenAlex
- W2514960674
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 3.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- osf.io
- Locations
- European Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- self-esteem, life course development, latent classes, within-person change, individual differences, self-rated health, well-being, couple relationships, occupational status
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