The DOI matches its Crossref record; 88 of the 88 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Long-Term Stability of Self-Esteem: Its Time-Dependent Decay and Nonzero Asymptote
Abstract
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.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“The stability of individual differences in self-esteem was found to increase from the lowest stability in childhood and adolescence to the highest stability in middle age (Donnellan et al., 2012;Kuster & Orth, 2013;Trzesniewski et al., 2003).”
From Self‐esteem development and life events: A review and integrative process framework (2022) · cites this paper as Kuster & Orth, 2013
In the citing paper
“Another study reported relatively high rank-order stability that declined with increasing time intervals from 0.93 for 1-year to 0.61 for 10-year intervals and leveled off at an asymptote at a value of 0.4 (Kuster & Orth, 2013).”
From Self‐esteem development and life events: A review and integrative process framework (2022) · cites this paper as Kuster & Orth, 2013
Citations
Cites
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999) · Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 · Cited by 108,788
Society and the Adolescent Self-Image
Rosenberg, M. (1965) · doi:10.1515/9781400876136 · Cited by 30,126
James, W. (1891) · Personality Culture Society · doi:10.1037/11059-000 · Cited by 25,876
Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.98.2.224 · Cited by 21,995
Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties.
Arnett, J. J. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.5.469 · Cited by 16,843
Erikson, E. H. (2026) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · doi:10.5281/zenodo.18614668 · Cited by 13,081
The weirdest people in the world?
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x0999152x · Cited by 12,641
Missing data: our view of the state of the art
Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.7.2.147 · Cited by 11,638
Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research
Krueger, R. F., & Johnson, W. (2008) · Cited by 7,884
Handbook of Personality : Theory and Research
Pervin, L. A. (1992) · Cited by 4,543
WEIRD languages have misled us, too
Majid, A., & Levinson, S. C. (2010) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x1000018x · Cited by 4,177
Cole, D. A., & Maxwell, S. E. (2003) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.112.4.558 · Cited by 3,605
Handbook of Structural Equation Modeling
Howard, A. L. (2013) · Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1080/10705511.2013.769397 · Cited by 3,465
Roberts, B. W., & DelVecchio, W. F. (2000) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.3 · Cited by 3,241
Robins, R. W., Hendin, H. M., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167201272002 · Cited by 3,041
Personality Development: Stability and Change
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141913 · Cited by 2,699
Applications of Structural Equation Modeling in Psychological Research
MacCallum, R. C., & Austin, J. T. (2000) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.201 · Cited by 2,634
Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha
Schmitt, N. (1996) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/1040-3590.8.4.350 · Cited by 2,588
The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory
Leary, M. R., & Baumeister, R. F. (2000) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(00)80003-9 · Cited by 2,521
Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?
Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.106.4.766 · Cited by 2,247
The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American.
Arnett, J. J. (2008) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.63.7.602 · Cited by 2,178
Missing Data Techniques for Structural Equation Modeling.
Allison, P. D. (2003) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.112.4.545 · Cited by 1,335
Specht, J., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024950 · Cited by 1,318
Chris Fraley, R. (2002) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0602_03 · Cited by 1,066
Widaman, K. F., Ferrer, E. E., & Conger, R. D. (2010) · Child Development Perspectives · doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00110.x · Cited by 961
Item factor analysis: Current approaches and future directions.
Wirth, R. J., & Edwards, M. C. (2007) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.12.1.58 · Cited by 958
Handbook of personality development
(2007) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.44-2967 · Cited by 933
Sedikides, C., Gaertner, L., & Toguchi, Y. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.60 · Cited by 885
Life-span development of self-esteem and its effects on important life outcomes.
Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Widaman, K. F. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025558 · Cited by 860
Self-citationGlobal self-esteem across the life span.
Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H., Tracy, J. L., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2002) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.17.3.423 · Cited by 836
Measurement invariance: Review of practice and implications
Schmitt, N., & Kuljanin, G. (2008) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2008.03.003 · Cited by 825
Psychological perspectives on the self
Hampson, S. E. (1985) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/0191-8869(85)90049-2 · Cited by 807
Stability of self-esteem across the life span.
Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.205 · Cited by 807
Low self-esteem prospectively predicts depression in adolescence and young adulthood.
Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Roberts, B. W. (2008) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.3.695 · Cited by 784
Self-citationSelf-verification processes: How we sustain our self-conceptions
Swann, W. B., & Read, S. J. (1981) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(81)90043-3 · Cited by 778
Handbook of Nonlinear Regression Models.
Giddings, D. R., & Ratkowsky, D. A. (1991) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C (Applied Statistics) · doi:10.2307/2347928 · Cited by 777
Swann, W. B., Stein-Seroussi, A., & Giesler, R. B. (1992) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.62.3.392 · Cited by 733
Assessment, enhancement, and verification determinants of the self-evaluation process.
Sedikides, C. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.317 · Cited by 710 · cited 1×
“Another transactional process is that people tend to selectively attend to and search for information that confirms their beliefs about themselves, including their self-evaluation (Sedikides, 1993; Swann & Read, 1981).”
BackgroundSelf-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: A cohort-sequential longitudinal study.
Orth, U., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Robins, R. W. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018769 · Cited by 644
Self-citationA Longitudinal Study of Personality Change in Young Adulthood
Robins, R. W., Fraley, R. C., Roberts, B. W., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.694157 · Cited by 634
Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024298 · Cited by 622
Age and Birth Cohort Differences in Self-Esteem: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2001) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0504_3 · Cited by 601
(2008) · Cited by 541
Personality-relationship transaction in young adulthood.
Neyer, F. J., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.81.6.1190 · Cited by 518
O’Mara, A., Marsh, H., Craven, R., & Debus, R. (2006) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1207/s15326985ep4103_4 · Cited by 486
Personality Plasticity After Age 30
Terracciano, A., Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167206288599 · Cited by 486
Fraley, R. C., & Roberts, B. W. (2005) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.112.1.60 · Cited by 480
Self-esteem development from age 14 to 30 years: A longitudinal study.
Erol, R. Y., & Orth, U. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024299 · Cited by 474
Self-citationSelf-concept from middle childhood through adolescence
Rosenberg, M. (1986) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 436
Block, J., & Robins, R. W. (1993) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02951.x · Cited by 385
Testing differences between nested covariance structure models: Power analysis and null hypotheses.
Maccallum, R., Browne, M., & Cai, L. (2006) · Psychological methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.11.1.19 · Cited by 374
Patterns of stability in adult attachment: An empirical test of two models of continuity and change.
Fraley, R. C., Vicary, A. M., Brumbaugh, C. C., & Roisman, G. I. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024150 · Cited by 361
Eid, M., Lischetzke, T., Nußbeck, F. W., & Trierweiler, L. I. (2003) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.8.1.38 · Cited by 357
Hampson, S. E., & Goldberg, L. R. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.763 · Cited by 357
Handbook of Personality Development
Mroczek, D. K., & Little, T. D. (2014) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315805610 · Cited by 356
Marsh, H. W., Scalas, L. F., & Nagengast, B. (2010) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0019225 · Cited by 349
Marsh, H. W., Craven, R. G., & Debus, R. L. (1998) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1132361 · Cited by 329
Changing self-esteem in children and adolescents: A meta-analytical review
Haney, P., & Durlak, J. A. (1998) · Journal of Clinical Child Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2704_6 · Cited by 325
Conley, J. J. (1984) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/0191-8869(84)90133-8 · Cited by 318
The trait-state-error model for multiwave data.
Kenny, D. A., & Zautra, A. (1995) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.63.1.52 · Cited by 312
Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Meier, L. L. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0015645 · Cited by 298
Self-citationRethinking “Generation Me”: A Study of Cohort Effects from 1976-2006
Trzesniewski, K. H., & Donnellan, M. B. (2010) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691609356789 · Cited by 295
A meta-analysis of normal and disordered personality across the life span.
Ferguson, C. J. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018770 · Cited by 273
Still Stable after All These Years? Personality Stability Theory Revisited
Ardelt, M. (2000) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2695848 · Cited by 245
Trait–state models for longitudinal data.
Kenny, D. A., & Zautra, A. (2001) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10409-008 · Cited by 239
Self-esteem: Change and stability between ages 13 and 23.
O’Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (1983) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.19.2.257 · Cited by 229
How Families Still Matter: A Longitudinal Study of Youth in Two Generations
Carr, D., Bengtson, V. L., Biblarz, T. J., & Roberts, R. E. L. (2003) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/1556639 · Cited by 225
The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Individual Differences
AUTHOR_ID, N., Ackerman, P. L., Deary, I. J., Diener, E., & Hogan, R. (2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444343120 · Cited by 190
What is being assessed and why it matters: The impact of transient error on trait research.
Chmielewski, M. S., & Watson, D. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0015618 · Cited by 182
Handbook of Nonlinear Regression Models
Ziegel, E. R. (1991) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.1991.10484814 · Cited by 173
Rumination Mediates the Prospective Effect of Low Self-Esteem on Depression
Kuster, F., Orth, U., & Meier, L. L. (2012) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167212437250 · Cited by 158
Self-citationBirth Cohort Differences in Self-Esteem, 1988–2008: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis
Gentile, B., Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2010) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019919 · Cited by 149
Increases in Positive Self-Views Among High School Students
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02204.x · Cited by 148
Brent Donnellan, M., Kenny, D. A., Trzesniewski, K. H., Lucas, R. E., & Conger, R. D. (2012) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2012.07.005 · Cited by 145
Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Robins, R. W. (2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444343120.ch28 · Cited by 143
Self‐esteem: a behavioural genetic perspective
Neiss, M. B., Sedikides, C., & Stevenson, J. (2002) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.456 · Cited by 124
Conley, J. J. (1984) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.47.6.1325 · Cited by 113
Affective Ties to Parents in Early Adulthood and Self-Esteem Across 20 Years
Roberts, R. E. L., & Bengtson, V. L. (1996) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2787121 · Cited by 105
Murrell, S. A., Meeks, S., & Walker, J. (1991) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.6.3.352 · Cited by 92
The stability of self-concept in late adolescence: Gender and situational effects
Cairns, E., McWhirter, L., Duffy, U., & Barry, R. J. (1990) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/0191-8869(90)90275-v · Cited by 91
Reliability of the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children and Predictors of Global Self-Worth
Granleese, J., & Joseph, S. (1994) · The Journal of Genetic Psychology · doi:10.1080/00221325.1994.9914796 · Cited by 89
Stability of Global Self-Evaluations in Early Adolescence: A Cohort Longitudinal Study
Alsaker, F. D., & Olweus, D. (1992) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1207/s15327795jra0202_2 · Cited by 85
Perceived Competence and Self-Worth during Adolescence: A Longitudinal Behavioral Genetic Study
McGuire, S. A., Manke, B., Saudino, K. J., Reiss, D., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. J. (1999) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00094 · Cited by 81
Age and race differences in the trajectories of self-esteem.
Shaw, B. A., Liang, J., & KRAUSE, N. M. (2010) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/a0018242 · Cited by 74
A three-wave longitudinal study of self-evaluations during young adulthood
Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Conger, K. J., & Conger, R. D. (2006) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.06.004 · Cited by 66
Dependability of Personality, Life Satisfaction, and Affect in Short‐Term Longitudinal Data
Anusic, I., Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2011) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00714.x · Cited by 49
Cole, D. A. (2012) · Cited by 22
The Longitudinal Study of Generations
Olson, R. E. (2015) · The International Journal of Aging and Human Development · doi:10.1177/0091415015614949 · Cited by 8
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- 10.2307/1131226 · DOI
- Cohen J., 2003, Applied multiple regression/correlation analyses for the behavioral sciences
- 10.1037/0022-3514.47.6.1325 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-006X.63.1.52 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06159.x · DOI
- Muthén L. K., 2010, Mplus user’s guide
- 10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.1190 · DOI · Paper page
- SPSS, 2011, IBM SPSS Statistics 20
- 10.1037/0022-3514.62.3.392 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Development of Self-Esteem
Orth, U., & Robins, R. W. (2014) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721414547414 · Cited by 1,004
Self-citationTesting prospective effects in longitudinal research: Comparing seven competing cross-lagged models.
Orth, U., Clark, D. A., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2020) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000358 · Cited by 875
Self-citationDevelopment 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
Self-citationLow and decreasing self-esteem during adolescence predict adult depression two decades later.
Steiger, A. E., Allemand, M., Robins, R. W., & Fend, H. A. (2014) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0035133 · Cited by 348
Anusic, I., & Schimmack, U. (2015) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000066 · Cited by 352
Metadata
- Authors
- Kuster, F., & Orth, U.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel (CH)
- ORCID
- Orth, Ulrich
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-03-10
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 677-690
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2168624465
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 88
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 10.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- self-esteem, trait stability, rank-order stability, test-retest reliability, long-term stability, exponential decay, asymptotic stability, individual differences, personality traits, aging, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Individuality, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Self Concept, Socioeconomic Factors, Time Factors, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review