Measuring Self‐Esteem in Context: The Importance of Stability of Self‐Esteem in Psychological Functioning

Abstract

In this article, I report on a research program that has focused on the joint roles of stability and level of self‐esteem in various aspects of psychological functioning. Stability of self‐esteem refers to the magnitude of short‐term fluctuations that people experience in their current, contextually based feelings of self‐worth. In contrast, level of self‐esteem refers to representations of people's general, or typical, feelings of self‐worth. A considerable amount of research reveals that self‐esteem stability has predictive value beyond the predictive value of self‐esteem level. Moreover, considering self‐esteem stability provides one way to distinguish fragile from secure forms of high self‐esteem. Results from a number of studies are presented and theoretical implications are discussed.