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.
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“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
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Cited by
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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.
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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
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