Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62, 4055 Basel, Switzerland.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 Jun;102(6):1271-88. doi: 10.1037/a0025558. Epub 2011 Sep 26.
We examined the life-span development of self-esteem and tested whether self-esteem influences the development of important life outcomes, including relationship satisfaction, job satisfaction, occupational status, salary, positive and negative affect, depression, and physical health. Data came from the Longitudinal Study of Generations. Analyses were based on 5 assessments across a 12-year period of a sample of 1,824 individuals ages 16 to 97 years. First, growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, reaches a peak at about age 50 years, and then decreases in old age. Second, cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that self-esteem is best modeled as a cause rather than a consequence of life outcomes. Third, growth curve analyses, with self-esteem as a time-varying covariate, suggested that self-esteem has medium-sized effects on life-span trajectories of affect and depression, small to medium-sized effects on trajectories of relationship and job satisfaction, a very small effect on the trajectory of health, and no effect on the trajectory of occupational status. These findings replicated across 4 generations of participants--children, parents, grandparents, and their great-grandparents. Together, the results suggest that self-esteem has a significant prospective impact on real-world life experiences and that high and low self-esteem are not mere epiphenomena of success and failure in important life domains.
我们考察了自尊的寿命期发展，并检验了自尊是否会影响重要的生活结果的发展，包括关系满意度、工作满意度、职业地位、工资、积极和消极情绪、抑郁和身体健康。数据来自世代纵向研究。分析基于对 16 至 97 岁的 1824 个人样本进行的 12 年 5 次评估。首先，增长曲线分析表明，自尊从青春期到中年期增加，在大约 50 岁时达到峰值，然后在老年时下降。其次，交叉滞后回归分析表明，自尊最好被建模为生活结果的原因，而不是结果。第三，考虑到自尊是时变协变量的增长曲线分析表明，自尊对情感和抑郁的寿命轨迹有中等影响，对关系和工作满意度的轨迹有小到中等影响，对健康的轨迹有很小的影响，对职业地位的轨迹没有影响。这些发现跨越了 4 代参与者——儿童、父母、祖父母和曾祖父母——得到了复制。总的来说，结果表明，自尊对现实世界的生活经历有重大的前瞻性影响，高自尊和低自尊不仅仅是重要生活领域成功和失败的表象。
