Change in adult self-esteem: a longitudinal assessment

This is a longitudinal investigation of self-esteem change in an adult population. The analysis addresses two limitations in earlier studies: the use of convenience samples of children and adolescents, and cross-sectional or short-duration longitudinal studies of self-esteem change. Participants are 97 randomly selected married couples interviewed at two points in time separated by 13 years. Two components of the self were measured: self-esteem and reflected appraisals (perception of others' evaluation). Contrary to previous research on self-esteem change, a significant decline was found in all components of the self for both husbands and wives. The decline in self-esteem was not a function of age, education or income. The decline was more likely to occur for high, rather than low, self-esteem participants. This finding is attributed to the demands on higher self-esteem participants to maintain or enhance self-esteem and the caution of low self-esteem participants to engage in behaviours that would threaten the self.