The longitudinal relations between self-esteem and affective self-regulatory efficacy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.08.011Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We studied relations between self-esteem and affective self-efficacy beliefs.

  • We used longitudinal data by 206 late adolescents.

  • Self-esteem significantly predicted affective self-regulatory efficacy.

  • Affective self-efficacy belies predicted self-esteem differently across time.

Abstract

The present study examines the longitudinal relations between self-esteem and perceived affective self-regulatory efficacy (i.e., self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions and in expressing positive emotions). Participants were a group of 206 late adolescents (47% males) aged 16, 18, 20 and 24 years at T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Findings corroborated the posited paths of mutual relations, while pointing to a major contribution of self-esteem in predicting perceived affective self-regulatory efficacy across time. In particular, self-esteem consistently predicted subsequent levels of self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions and in expressing positive emotions. Paths in the opposite direction were significant but small. Findings are discussed in light of the contributions of perceived affective self-regulatory efficacy to promote self-esteem from 16 to 24 years.

Section snippets

Self-esteem and perceived self-efficacy beliefs

Self-esteem and perceived self-efficacy are among the most important psychological constructs to be studied in the last decades. Both constructs concern self-evaluations that attest to individuals as agents able to reflect upon themselves and their experience. Each involves self-referent processes and structures, which exert a crucial influence on people’s motivation, action, and adjustment over the entire course of life (Bandura, 1997, Bandura, 2001, Diener et al., 2000, Harter, 2006, Kernis,

Participants

Participants were part of an ongoing longitudinal project implemented to investigate the main determinants of successful development and adjustment from late childhood to early adulthood. In this study, we used one cohort of 206 individuals (47% males) from which data an all measures were available, which were age 16 at 2000 (Time 1, henceforth T1). This cohort was retested at age 18 (Time 2, henceforth T2), at age 20 (Time 3, henceforth T3), and at age 24 (Time 4, henceforth T4). Participants

Descriptive analyses

Correlations across the four time points among self-esteem, self-efficacy beliefs in expressing positive emotions, and self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions are provided in Table 1. Pairwise correlations reveal a medium-to-high relative stability across time, with higher correlations the shorter the elapsed time period. All variables resulted significantly correlated within each time-point.

Across time relations between self-esteem and perceived affective self-regulatory efficacy2

The hypothesized model, with all parameters (i.e., autoregressive paths, cross lagged paths,

Discussion

The present study uses a longitudinal mediational model to unravel the likely direction of influences between self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs associated to the regulation of positive and negative affect. Findings attested reciprocal relations among the constructs from adolescence to young adulthood (i.e., from 16 to 24 years). Across a developmental span as wide as 8 years, self-esteem was moderately stable and consistently predicted subsequent levels of self-efficacy beliefs in expressing

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    The first and second authors contributed equally to this article, and the order of their names was arbitrary.

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