Growing up to be mature and confident? The longitudinal interplay between the Big Five and self-esteem in adolescence

Adolescence is a formative life phase for the development of personality characteristics. Although past findings suggest Big Five traits alongside self-esteem as indicators for successful development, little is known about their longitudinal interplay. We addressed this research gap by integrating data from three longitudinal studies (N_T1 = 1,088; M_age = 16.02 years, 72% female). We apply continuous time modeling to investigate longitudinal associations between Big Five traits and self-esteem in a period of up to 1 year. Results illustrate four main findings: First, rank-order stabilities were overall high for all personality characteristics. Second, longitudinal associations between Big Five traits and self-esteem were reciprocal for extraversion, neuroticism, and openness but one-sided for agreeableness and conscientiousness on self-esteem. Effects peaked within the first month and mostly faded after 2 months. Third, the majority of cross-effects were similar in size; however, the effect from neuroticism on later values of self-esteem was stronger than vice versa. Fourth, most effects were robust against influences of gender, age, and study characteristics. Analyses with acquaintance-reports supported the results but suggested stronger effects that lasted longer than effects of self-reports. We conclude that the development of personality characteristics acts as possible sources of development for each other. All in all, the interplay between Big Five and self-esteem development appears reciprocal for some traits but was most often driven by Big Five traits. We integrate our findings into three contrasting theoretical perspectives and discuss the importance of time for a better understanding of personality development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).