Self-esteem development from age 14 to 30 years: A longitudinal study.

We examined the development of self-esteem in adolescence and young adulthood. Data came from the Young Adults section of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which includes 8 assessments across a 14-year period of a national probability sample of 7,100 individuals age 14 to 30 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem increases during adolescence and continues to increase more slowly in young adulthood. Women and men did not differ in their self-esteem trajectories. In adolescence, Hispanics had lower self-esteem than Blacks and Whites, but the self-esteem of Hispanics subsequently increased more strongly, so that at age 30 Blacks and Hispanics had higher self-esteem than Whites. At each age, emotionally stable, extraverted, and conscientious individuals experienced higher self-esteem than emotionally unstable, introverted, and less conscientious individuals. Moreover, at each age, high sense of mastery, low risk taking, and better health predicted higher self-esteem. Finally, the results suggest that normative increase in sense of mastery accounts for a large proportion of the normative increase in self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race-ethnic inequality and psychological distress: Depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood.

Social inequality is well established in the mental health of race-ethnic groups, but little is known about this disparity from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examined differences in trajectories of depressive symptoms across 4 race-ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) using 3 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Latent trajectory analyses showed race-ethnic variations among both females and males. Stressors were significantly related to depressive symptoms for all study members, but they accounted for symptom trajectories only among Black males and minority females. Persistent differences in trajectories for Blacks and Whites showed parallel slopes that did not converge over time. Neither background characteristics nor social resources (i.e., social support) altered this gap. However, social support represents a potential equalizer of these race-ethnic differences, owing to the ubiquitous nature of its protective effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Global self-esteem across the life span.

This study provides a comprehensive picture of age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90 years using cross-sectional data collected from 326,641 individuals over the Internet. Self-esteem levels were high in childhood, dropped during adolescence, rose gradually throughout adulthood, and declined sharply in old age. This trajectory generally held across gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality (U.S. citizens vs. non-U.S. citizens). Overall, these findings support previous research, help clarify inconsistencies in the literature, and document new trends that require further investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and race differences in the trajectories of self-esteem.

The purpose of this research was to assess age- and race-based variation in within-persons changes in self-esteem over a 16-year period. We used hierarchical linear modeling with data from 3,617 adults 25 years of age and older who were interviewed up to 4 times. Self-esteem increased, on average, over the course of the study period. At the same time, significant age variations around this trend were observed, with younger adults experiencing increases in self-esteem and older adults experiencing decreases. In general, race differences were not evident with respect to average levels or rates of change in self-esteem. However, a significant Age × Race interaction suggested that late-life declines in self-esteem were steeper for Blacks compared with Whites. These findings suggest the presence of age- and race-based stratification with respect to self-esteem. Future work in this area should examine the health and well-being effects of declining self-esteem during old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and self-esteem: Meta-analyses comparing Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians and comment on Gray-Little and Hafdahl (2000).

These meta-analyses examine race differences in self-esteem among 712 datapoints. Blacks scored higher than Whites on self-esteem measures (d=0.19), but Whites scored higher than other racial minority groups, including Hispanics (d=-0.09), Asians (d=-0.30), and American Indians (d=-0.21). Most of these differences were smallest in childhood and grew larger with age. Blacks' self-esteem increased over time relative to Whites', with the Black advantage not appearing until the 1980s. Black and Hispanic samples scored higher on measures without an academic self-esteem subscale. Relative to Whites, minority males had lower self-esteem than did minority females, and Black and Hispanic self-esteem was higher in groups with high socioeconomic status. The results are most consistent with a cultural interpretation of racial differences in self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span.

The authors examined age differences in shame, guilt, and 2 forms of pride (authentic and hubristic) from age 13 years to age 89 years, using cross-sectional data from 2,611 individuals. Shame decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a nadir around age 50 years, and then increased in old age. Guilt increased from adolescence into old age, reaching a plateau at about age 70 years. Authentic pride increased from adolescence into old age, whereas hubristic pride decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a minimum around age 65 years, and then increased in old age. On average, women reported experiencing more shame and guilt; Blacks reported experiencing less shame and Asians more hubristic pride than other ethnicities. Across the life span, shame and hubristic pride tended to be negatively related to psychological well-being, and shame-free guilt and authentic pride showed positive relations with well-being. Overall, the findings support the maturity principle of personality development and suggest that as people age they become more prone to experiencing psychologically adaptive self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and authentic pride, and less prone to experiencing psychologically maladaptive ones, such as shame and hubristic pride. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing models of the structure and development of future time perspective: Maintaining a focus on opportunities in middle age.

A core construct in socioemotional selectivity theory is future time perspective (FTP), conceptualized as a unidimensional and bipolar construct ranging from expansive to limited. Change in FTP across adulthood has been treated as linear, with older adults showing more limited FTP. Studies 1 and 2 showed that a 2-factor model fit better, with focus on opportunities and focus on limitations as distinct dimensions. These dimensions changed differentially with age. In cross-sectional Study 3, focus on opportunities was higher in young adulthood than in early middle age but did not drop further in late middle age. Focus on limitations was the same in young adulthood and early middle age but was higher in late middle age. In longitudinal Study 4, focus on limitations increased from early to late middle age, and focus on opportunities was again maintained, rather than showing the decrease one would assume from a 1-factor model of FTP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mean-level change in self-esteem from childhood through adulthood: Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

This study performs a meta-analysis of the mean-level of change in self-esteem across the life span. Fifty-nine studies yielded data from 130 independent samples. Results indicate that, despite slightly increasing from childhood to the first decade of young adulthood, self-esteem does not change beyond 30 years old. Self-esteem changes the most during the first decade of young adulthood. The effects of gender and time span between assessments on change in self-esteem were minimal during adolescence, while the way self-esteem is measured significantly affects change. The mean effect size was the largest with the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the smallest with Harter's Self-Perception Profile. Birth cohort also significantly influences change, whereas older cohorts change to a smaller extent compared to younger cohorts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of self-esteem across the life span.

Two studies examined the rank-order stability of self-esteem from age 6 to 83: Study 1 was a meta-analysis of 50 published articles (N = 29,839) and Study 2 analyzed data from 4 large national studies (N = 74,381). Self-esteem showed substantial continuity over time (disattenuated correlations ranged from the .50s to .70s), comparable to the stability found for personality traits. Both studies provided evidence for a robust developmental trend: Self-esteem stability was low during childhood, increased throughout adolescence and young adulthood, and declined during midlife and old age. This trend could not be explained by age differences in the reliability of self-esteem measures, and generally replicated across gender, ethnicity, self-esteem scale, nationality (U.S. vs. non-U.S.), and year of publication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, self-esteem, and anger in emerging adulthood: Seven-year trajectories.

This study used a school-based community sample (N = 920) to examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18-25). Using data from 5 waves, the authors discovered that multilevel models indicated that, on average, depressive symptoms and expressed anger declined, whereas self-esteem increased. Between-persons predictors of variability in trajectories included gender (gender gaps in depressive symptoms and self-esteem narrowed), parents' education, and conflict with parents (depressive symptoms and expressed anger improved fastest in participants with highly educated parents and in those with higher conflict). Across time, increases in social support and marriage were associated with increased psychological well-being, whereas longer periods of unemployment were connected with higher depression and lower self-esteem. Emerging adulthood is a time of improving psychological well-being, but individual trajectories depend on specific individual and family characteristics as well as role changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of girls' and boys' aggressive-disruptive behavior trajectories across elementary school: Prediction to young adult antisocial outcomes.

Multiple group analysis and general growth mixture modeling was used to determine whether aggressive- disruptive behavior trajectories during elementary school, and their association with young adulthood antisocial outcomes, vary by gender. Participants were assessed longitudinally beginning at age 6 as part of an evaluation of 2 school-based preventive programs. Two analogous trajectories were found for girls and boys: chronic high aggression- disruption (CHAD) and stable low aggression- disruption (LAD). A 3rd class of low moderate aggression- disruption (LMAD) for girls and increasing aggression- disruption (IAD) for boys also was found. Girls and boys in analogous CHAD classes did not differ in trajectory level and course, but girls in the CHAD and LAD classes had lower rates of antisocial outcomes than boys. Girls with the LMAD trajectory differed from boys with the IAD trajectory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of desegregation on race relations and self-esteem.

Examined the effects of desegregation on the interethnic attitudes, interethnic contact, and self-esteem of 309 Blacks, 487 Mexican-Americans, and 528 Whites. Predesegregation Ss were 5th- and 6th-graders at segregated and naturally integrated elementary schools. Postdesegregation Ss were 6th graders from both types of backgrounds who were attending desegregated schools. The attitude and contact data demonstrate that all 3 groups were highly ethnocentric. Whites and Blacks from segregated backgrounds had more negative attitudes toward both out-group and in-group members after desegregation than before. Desegregation had little effect on interethnic contact or self-esteem. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thinking about my generation: Adaptive effects of a dual age identity in later adulthood.

Growing old involves experiences of losses. Yet, it is not clear whether one’s cohort group membership poses a resource in later adulthood. The authors examined the role of a dual age identity (age group vs. generation) across adulthood and possible adaptive effects on future time perspective and well-being. Findings suggest that when generation membership is salient, older (but not young and middle-aged) participants display a stronger identification with same-aged people than when age group membership is salient. Additionally, results demonstrate that the dual age identity represents a significant component of the self-concept and well-being in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age Differences in Everyday Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Effectiveness: A Meta-Analytic Review.

The authors report a meta-analysis of age differences in everyday problem-solving/decision-making effectiveness (EPSE). Effect sizes were calculated to reflect 3 age group comparisons: old versus young, young versus middle-aged, and middle-aged versus old. Findings from the meta-analysis of 28 separate studies with an aggregate of 4,482 participants do not support theories of preserved EPSE in late adulthood. Although significant age differences of moderate magnitude persisted across methodological and theoretical domains, rating criteria (experimenter vs. participant) emerged as a significant moderator of the effect magnitude and direction. In addition, EPSE in older adults was bolstered when problem content was interpersonal and when samples were highly educated. Finally, the current results support the conceptual integration of findings from the everyday problem-solving and everyday decision-making literatures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-esteem: A quantitative review.

Research on racial comparisons of self-esteem was examined. Early research in this area, exemplified by the doll studies of racial preference, was viewed as demonstrating that Blacks have less self-regard than Whites. However, a meta-analytic synthesis of 261 comparisons, based largely on self-esteem scales and involving more than half a million respondents, revealed higher scores for Black than for White children, adolescents, and young adults. This analysis further revealed that the direction and magnitude of racial differences are influenced by such demographic characteristics as participant age and socioeconomic status, as well as by characteristics of the measuring instruments. Many findings—for example, that the self-esteem advantage for Black respondents increases with age and is related to the sex composition of the sample—underscore the need for long-term longitudinal studies of self-esteem development in male and female members of both racial groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational pathways to alcohol use and abuse among Black and White adolescents.

Using data from a biracial community sample of adolescents, the present study examined trajectories of alcohol use and abuse over a 15-year period, from adolescence into young adulthood, as well as the extent to which these trajectories were differentially predicted by coping and enhancement motives for alcohol use among the 2 groups. Coping and enhancement motivations (M. L. Cooper, 1994) refer to the strategic use of alcohol to regulate negative and positive emotions, respectively. Results showed that Black and White youth follow distinct alcohol trajectories from adolescence into young adulthood and that these trajectories are differentially rooted in the regulation of negative and positive emotions. Among Black drinkers, coping motives assessed in adolescence more strongly forecast differences in alcohol involvement into their early 30s, whereas enhancement motives more strongly forecast differences among White drinkers. Results of the present study suggest that different models may be needed to account for drinking behavior among Blacks and Whites and that different approaches may prove maximally effective in reducing heavy or problem drinking among the 2 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School desegregation: An evaluation of predictions made in Brown v. Board of Education..

Hypotheses concerning the effects of desegregation on prejudice, self-esteem, and achievement were derived from testimony given by social scientists in Brown v. Board of Education. The author explains evidence concerning these hypotheses from published studies of the effects of school desegregation on prejudice and on Black students' achievement, and studies using questionnaire measures of self-esteem to compare segregated Blacks and Whites. It is tentatively concluded that (a) desegregation generally does not reduce the prejudices of Whites toward Blacks, (b) the self-esteem of Blacks rarely increases in desegregated schools, (c) the achievement level of Blacks sometimes increases and rarely decreases in desegregated schools, and (d) desegregation leads to increases in Black prejudice toward Whites about as frequently as it leads to decreases. These conclusions should be regarded as tentative because (a) most of the studies have investigated only the short-term effects of desegregation, (b) the extent and type of desegregation varied greatly, (c) the studies were done in different regions with children who differed in age, (d) the studies often employed noncomparable measures of each variable, and (e) social class and IQ were typically not included as control variables. (132 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of racial identity in minority and majority children: An affect discrepancy model.

Proposes an affect discrepancy to explain the processes by which children come to know and identify with a minority or majority group. To test this model, 203 White and 91 Indian children in kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 answered racial identity, preference, social distance and recognition questions by pointing to pictures of Whites, Indians, and Blacks. Several weeks later Ss completed measures of concrete operational thought and self-esteem. Indian children made more cross-racial choices than did Whites, even though Indians were more accurate than Whites in recognizing the pictures. Structural equation models indicated that for both groups, cognitive development was positively associated with own-group choices. Self-esteem was positively related to own-group choices for Whites but inversely related for Indians. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative race–class stereotypes by race and perceived class of subjects.

80 Black and 74 White college students assigned traits, from a list of 80, to the Black lower class, Black middle class, White lower class, and White middle class. Each S rated the 5 or fewer traits that he or she had chosen as being most typical of the respective race–class groups from –5 (unfavorable) to +5 (favorable) for the given groups. Ss also assigned themselves to 1 of 4 classes: lower class, working class, middle class, or upper class. On the basis of these judgments, the Ss within each racial group were classified as perceiving themselves to be above or below the median of their own race's distribution. White Ss assigned more favorable characteristics to the middle than to the lower class and did not rate Blacks lower than Whites. Black Ss made a similar, but smaller, social class distinction and, in addition, generally perceived Blacks more favorably than Whites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary and secondary control strategies for managing health and financial stress across adulthood.

The study examined the relation among three types of control strategies (persistence, positive reappraisals, lowering aspirations) and subjective well-being across adulthood (N?=?3,490). Specifically, the authors investigated whether age-adapted endorsement of control strategies is conducive to subjective well-being if individuals experience health or financial stress. The results reveal an overall enhanced reliance on control strategies in older as compared with younger adults. In addition, persistence showed a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being in young adulthood as compared with old age. In midlife and old age, positive reappraisals had a stronger positive relation to subjective well-being than persistence. Lowering aspirations was negatively related to subjective well-being, independent of age. Age differences in the relation of control strategies to subjective well-being were particularly salient in individuals who faced either health or financial stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)