547414

research-article2014
CDPXXX10.1177/0963721414547414Orth, RobinsThe Development of Self-Esteem

Current Directions in Psychological

The Development of Self-Esteem Science

2014, Vol. 23(5) 381­–387
© The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0963721414547414
cdps.sagepub.com
Ulrich Orth1 and Richard W. Robins2
1
University of Bern and 2University of California, Davis

Abstract
In this article, we review new insights gained from recent longitudinal studies examining the development of self-
esteem and its influence on important life outcomes. The evidence supports the following three conclusions. First,
self-esteem increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, peaks at about age 50 to 60 years, and then decreases
at an accelerating pace into old age; moreover, there are no cohort differences in the self-esteem trajectory from
adolescence to old age. Second, self-esteem is a relatively stable, but by no means immutable, trait; individuals with
relatively high (or low) self-esteem at one stage of life are likely to have relatively high (or low) self-esteem decades
later. Third, high self-esteem prospectively predicts success and well-being in life domains such as relationships, work,
and health. Given the increasing evidence that self-esteem has important real-world consequences, the topic of self-
esteem development is of considerable societal significance.

Keywords
self-esteem, life-span development, long-term stability, life outcomes, longitudinal

The concept of self-esteem is ubiquitous in contempo- person’s objective talents and abilities, or even how a
rary life. In classrooms and workplaces, sporting events person is evaluated by others. Moreover, self-esteem is
and music recitals, people generally assume that high commonly conceptualized as the “feeling that one is
self-esteem is critical to success in that domain. Indeed, ‘good enough,’” and consequently, individuals with high
the promotion of self-esteem, and the prevention of low self-esteem do not necessarily believe they are superior to
self-esteem, is widely perceived as an important societal others (Rosenberg, 1965, p. 31). Thus, self-esteem involves
goal that merits widespread interventions to boost self- feelings of self-acceptance and self-respect, in contrast to
esteem levels in the population. Yet until recently, the the excessive self-regard and self-aggrandizement that
scientific literature provided few insights into the nature characterizes narcissistic individuals (Ackerman et al.,
and development of self-esteem. In the past several years, 2011).
a large number of longitudinal studies have significantly
advanced the field. In this article, we review the new
insights gained from these studies, addressing the follow-
The Life-Span Trajectory of Self-Esteem
ing fundamental questions: What is the typical, or norma- At which stages of life do people tend to have high self-
tive, pattern of self-esteem change from adolescence to esteem, and when does self-esteem reach its nadir? Two
old age—that is, at which stages of life do people typi- recent longitudinal studies with large, diverse samples
cally show increases or decreases in self-esteem? How (one of which was nationally representative) have pro-
stable are individual differences in self-esteem across vided new insights into the life-span trajectory of self-
long periods—or, put differently, is self-esteem a stable esteem (Orth, Robins, & Widaman, 2012; Orth,
trait like shyness and intelligence or a transient state like Trzesniewski, & Robins, 2010). Previous life-span studies
feelings of fear and embarrassment? And finally, is self- had been cross-sectional and, consequently, suffered
esteem truly consequential—does it influence important from the interpretational ambiguities of cross-sectional
life outcomes?
Self-esteem refers to an individual’s subjective evalua-
Corresponding Author:
tion of his or her worth as a person (see, e.g., Donnellan, Ulrich Orth, Department of Psychology, University of Bern,
Trzesniewski, & Robins, 2011; MacDonald & Leary, 2012). Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Importantly, self-esteem does not necessarily reflect a E-mail: [email protected]

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382 Orth, Robins

0.25
Peak: 51 years

Self-Esteem (z score) –0.25 Increase from

age 16 to 51 years: Decrease from
d = +0.29 age 51 to 97 years:
–0.5 d = −0.67

–0.75
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95
Age (years)
Fig. 1.  Average predicted trajectory of self-esteem from age 16 to 97 years, based on cohort-
sequential longitudinal data from a large sample repeatedly assessed across 12 years (Orth,
Robins, & Widaman, 2012). The self-esteem measure was converted to z scores for the analy-
sis (z scores have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1). Self-esteem increased from
adolescence to midlife and then decreased at accelerating pace into old age. The curvilinear
function provided for a better fit than alternative functions. The effect size (d) for the increase
from age 16 to 51 was small to medium, and the effect size for the decrease from age 51 to
97 was medium to large. Adapted from “Life-Span Development of Self-Esteem and Its Effects
on Important Life Outcomes,” by U. Orth, R. W. Robins, and K. F. Widaman, 2012, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 102, p. 1278. Copyright 2012 by the American Psychologi-
cal Association. Adapted with permission.

data (e.g., confounding age-related changes with cohort self-esteem decrease in old age is small (Wagner, Gerstorf,
differences). Although individuals may differ in the par- et al., 2013; Wagner et al., 2014). Thus, further research on
ticular trajectory they follow, the new longitudinal evi- the old-age trajectory is needed. Given that declines in
dence suggests that self-esteem tends to increase from health, cognitive abilities, and socioeconomic status mod-
adolescence to middle adulthood, peak at about age 50 erate the self-esteem decline in old age (Orth et al., 2010;
to 60 years, and then decrease at an accelerating pace Wagner, Gerstorf, et al., 2013), which suggests that the
into old age. Figure 1 illustrates this pattern using data self-esteem decline during old age is small when individ-
from Orth et al. (2012). uals maintain their health and wealth, it is possible that
In addition, there is a growing body of longitudinal between-study differences in old age are accounted for by
studies that have tracked the self-esteem trajectory during differences in the average levels of moderating factors.
critical developmental periods such as adolescence Although men typically report higher levels of self-
(Birkeland, Melkevik, Holsen, & Wold, 2012; Erol & Orth, esteem than women, gender does not have a strong influ-
2011; Kuzucu, Bontempo, Hofer, Stallings, & Piccinin, ence on the developmental trajectory of self-esteem; that
2013; Morin, Maiano, Marsh, Nagengast, & Janosz, 2013; is, both men and women tend to show increases in self-
Steiger, Allemand, Robins, & Fend, 2014), young adult- esteem from adolescence to midlife and then declines in
hood (Chung et al., 2014; Wagner, Lang, Neyer, & Wagner, old age (Erol & Orth, 2011; Orth et al., 2012; Orth et al.,
2014; Wagner, Lüdtke, Jonkmann, & Trautwein, 2013; 2010; Wagner, Gerstorf, et al., 2013). However, members
Zeiders, Umaña-Taylor, & Derlan, 2013) and old age of ethnic minorities do not show the same patterns of
(Wagner, Gerstorf, Hoppmann, & Luszcz, 2013; Wagner self-esteem change as majority-group members. For
et al., 2014). Overall, the results of these studies have example, the trajectory of African Americans (compared
been consistent with the life-span trajectory described with Americans of European descent) increased more
above; that is, they show increases from adolescence to sharply during adolescence and young adulthood (Erol &
midlife and then decreases into old age. Orth, 2011) but then declined more rapidly during old
Inconsistent findings, however, have been reported age (Orth et al., 2010). Importantly, the difference
with regard to the size of the self-esteem decline in old between these two ethnic groups during old age held
age. Whereas some studies have suggested relatively even after controlling for differences in income, employ-
strong decreases (Orth et al., 2012; Orth et al., 2010; Shaw, ment status, and physical health (Orth et al., 2010). In
Liang, & Krause, 2010), other studies have found that the addition to gender and ethnicity, recent research has

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The Development of Self-Esteem 383

1 “Generation Me” hypothesis suggested by Twenge and

colleagues: Gentile, Twenge, & Campbell, 2010; Twenge,
.8 2006). For example, secular changes—such as an increas-
ing cultural focus on self-esteem, grade inflation in edu-
Rank-Order Stability

cation, and increasing self-presentation in social

.6
media—might lead to a more positive self-esteem trajec-
tory. However, the evidence from multiple cohort studies
.4 Asymptote = .43 does not support the claim that secular changes have
influenced the self-esteem trajectory (Erol & Orth, 2011;
.2 Orth et al., 2012; Orth et al., 2010). Instead, the findings
suggest that the typical life-span trajectory of self-esteem
has not changed during the past century. These null find-
0
5 10 15 20 25 ings are meaningful for two reasons. First, statistical
Retest Interval (years) power was sufficiently large to test for even very small
cohort effects because sample sizes ranged from about
Fig. 2. Stability of individual differences in self-esteem as a function 1,800 to 7,000 participants. Second, two of the studies
of the test-retest interval, based on data from a 29-year longitudinal used national probability samples, greatly strengthening
study with six assessments of a large sample (Kuster & Orth, 2013).
A rank-order-stability coefficient of 1 indicates perfect stability, and a the generalizability of the findings.
coefficient of 0 indicates a complete absence of stability. The results
indicated that as test-retest intervals increased, stability exponentially
decayed and asymptotically approached a nonzero value, estimated as Long-Term Stability of Individual
.43. Adapted from “The Long-Term Stability of Self-Esteem: Its Time- Differences in Self-Esteem
Dependent Decay and Nonzero Asymptote,” by F. Kuster and U. Orth,
2013, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 682. Copyright Do individuals with relatively high (or low) self-esteem at
2013 by SAGE Publications. Adapted with permission.
one stage of life tend to have relatively high (or low) self-
esteem at subsequent stages of life? Does self-esteem
suggested that individuals with particular personality exhibit trait-like stability or state-like fluctuations over
traits are more likely to experience increases in their self- time—in other words, is self-esteem more like mood,
esteem as they go through life; specifically, individuals varying from context to context, or more like personality
who are emotionally stable, conscientious, and extra- and intelligence, manifesting only slow, gradual changes
verted tend to show more positive self-esteem develop- over long periods of time? Recent data support the latter
ment than individuals who are low on these traits (Erol & position. Two recent longitudinal studies spanning
Orth, 2011; Wagner, Lüdtke, et al., 2013). decades (Donnellan, Kenny, Trzesniewski, Lucas, &
Another aspect of self-esteem—besides its level (i.e., Conger, 2012; Kuster & Orth, 2013) have examined the
low vs. high)—is the degree to which it fluctuates in stability of individual differences in self-esteem. Latent
response to external contingencies, such as experiences trait-state models (i.e., statistical models that partition the
of success and failure (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001). Highly variance into stable and variable components) indicated
contingent self-esteem is generally considered maladap- that a trait factor is needed to explain the patterns of
tive, because it suggests that the individual does not have change observed in these studies. Across both studies,
a stable, core sense of self-worth. Consistent with the about 70% to 85% of the variance was accounted for by
finding that people generally exhibit healthy self-esteem trait factors, and only 15% to 30% was accounted for by
development from adolescence to middle adulthood, a state variance or measurement error.
recent study suggested that self-esteem becomes pro- Moreover, Kuster and Orth (2013) examined the pat-
gressively less contingent, exhibiting fewer short-term tern of stability in self-esteem across intervals of differing
fluctuations, as people go through their adolescent and length, up to 29 years, on the basis of test-retest correla-
adult years (Meier, Orth, Denissen, & Kühnel, 2011). tions (which reflect the degree to which the rank order
Whether this adaptive change continues into old age is a of individuals is maintained over time). A rank-order-
question for future research. stability coefficient of 1 indicates perfect stability, and a
Finally, because many of the longitudinal studies dis- coefficient of 0 indicates a complete absence of stability.
cussed above included data from multiple birth cohorts, As would be expected, as the time interval increased,
researchers were able to test for cohort differences in the stability coefficients became smaller. Importantly, how-
life-span trajectory of self-esteem. It is possible that socio- ever, stability did not approach 0 but instead asymptoti-
cultural changes during the 20th century have influenced cally approached a medium-sized value, estimated as .43
the life-span trajectory of self-esteem (see, e.g., the (Fig. 2). This pattern of results held for both men and

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384 Orth, Robins

women and across all age groups, from adolescence to old results has indicated that high self-esteem is a predictor,
age. These findings suggest that we can foretell an indi- not a consequence, of life success. The studies covered a
vidual’s relative level of self-esteem (i.e., where that per- wide range of possible outcomes, including satisfaction
son stands relative to others) across decades of life. Thus, in marriage and close relationships, social-network size
despite theoretical claims to the contrary, self-esteem does and social support, physical health, mental health, educa-
not fluctuate continuously over time in response to the tion, employment status, job success and job satisfaction,
inevitable mix of successes and failures we all experience and criminal behavior. Importantly, these studies used
as we go through life. Instead, we seem to build up a foun- methodologically rigorous designs; for example, most
dation of self-worth that is at least somewhat resistant to aggregated the findings across multiple waves of data,
these transient factors. Taken together, these new findings increasing their reliability, and several controlled for the-
suggest that self-esteem should be thought of as a rela- oretically plausible third variables such as gender, socio-
tively stable, but by no means immutable, trait, with a level economic status, and intelligence. Also, the studies used
of stability that is comparable to that of basic personality data from large community samples (often with about
characteristics such as neuroticism and extraversion (Fraley 1,000 participants or more), which strengthens the con-
& Roberts, 2005). clusions that can be drawn. The findings support the
specificity-matching principle described by Swann,
Chang-Schneider, and McClarty (2007), which states that
Influences of Self-Esteem on the broad predictors such as global self-esteem are better
Development of Important Life predictors of broad outcomes (e.g., a cumulative index of
adjustment problems) than specific outcomes (e.g.,
Outcomes tobacco dependence; Trzesniewski et al., 2006).
In the previous two sections, we showed that self-esteem In addition, Boden, Fergusson, and Horwood (2007,
is a relatively enduring characteristic of individuals, 2008) tested the prospective effects of adolescent self-
despite a backdrop of small but pervasive shifts over the esteem on life outcomes in young adulthood. In these
life course in the average level of self-esteem. Both find- analyses, the effects of self-esteem became weak or non-
ings—the enduring nature of self-esteem and its ten- significant after controlling for an unusually large num-
dency to increase and decrease at particular developmental ber of covariates (as many as 23). Although controlling
turning points—raise the same question: Does it matter for third variables can be informative, controlling for this
how high an individual’s, or the population’s, self-esteem many covariates decreases the precision and, conse-
is? Does having high self-esteem truly cause people to quently, the validity of the estimates of interest, limiting
experience better relationships, work, and health, or is the conclusions that can be drawn. For statistical reasons
high self-esteem simply a reflection of success in these (e.g., multicollinearity), virtually every predictor will
domains? This question is critically important from a become nonsignificant if a sufficiently large number of
practical perspective because if self-esteem is conse- third variables are introduced into the model. Moreover,
quential, then improving self-esteem should have a ben- some of the covariates controlled for might be mediating
eficial effect on an individual’s life success. Moreover, the mechanisms rather than confounds. For example, con-
question is important from a theoretical perspective, trolling for depression might reduce the effect of low
given that because of the paucity of prospective studies self-esteem on drug use not because depression is a third
at the time, an earlier review concluded that self-esteem variable that creates a spurious association between self-
is “not a major predictor or cause of almost anything” esteem and drug use, but because depression mediates
(Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003, p. 37). the causal effect of low self-esteem on drug dependence.
Since Baumeister et al.’s (2003) review, several well- That is, low self-esteem is a known risk factor for depres-
designed longitudinal studies have tested for prospective sion (Sowislo & Orth, 2013), which in turn is a known
effects of self-esteem on life outcomes (Kuster, Orth, & risk factor for drug use. Thus, in the studies by Boden et
Meier, 2013; Marshall, Parker, Ciarrochi, & Heaven, 2014; al. (2007, 2008), some of the covariates controlled for are
Orth, Robins, Trzesniewski, Maes, & Schmitt, 2009; Orth better conceptualized as mediating mechanisms rather
et al., 2012; Trzesniewski et al., 2006). The results of these than confounds, and, consequently, the reported analy-
studies provide strong evidence that self-esteem is pre- ses do not allow for valid conclusions about the causal
dictive of a person’s success and well-being in important status of self-esteem.
life domains, even after taking into account prior levels of
self-esteem and success.
Future Directions and Implications
Most of these studies used cross-lagged designs, which
test for the direction of effects between self-esteem and Research in the field of self-esteem development has
life outcomes; across studies, the general pattern of recently made several steps forward based on robust

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The Development of Self-Esteem 385

evidence from longitudinal studies, many of which are vulnerable to low self-esteem (e.g., adolescence and
included large and representative samples, long study old age) and help identify risk factors for problematic
periods, multiple waves of data, and sophisticated statisti- developmental trajectories. Overall, the research reviewed
cal modeling. Nevertheless, much work remains to be in this article may contribute to interventions aimed at
done. For example, more research is needed to track the positively influencing the development of self-esteem.
self-esteem trajectory in childhood. Although theory as
well as cross-sectional data suggest that self-esteem Recommended Reading
decreases from childhood to adolescence (Robins, Kuster, F., & Orth, U. (2013). (See References). A 29-year longi-
Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, & Potter, 2002), the self- tudinal study suggesting that the long-term stability of indi-
esteem drop during middle childhood has not been con- vidual differences in self-esteem is relatively large and that
sistently supported by longitudinal studies (Cole et al., self-esteem is a trait-like personality construct.
2001; Huang, 2010; Kuzucu et al., 2013). Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Widaman, K. F. (2012). (See
Moreover, a better understanding is needed of those References). A longitudinal study on the life-span trajectory
factors that shape self-esteem development. Although we of self-esteem and its effects on success and well-being in
now have relatively strong evidence that self-esteem important life domains.
Orth, U., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Robins, R. W. (2010). (See
influences life outcomes (as reviewed above), the evi-
References). A longitudinal study with a nationally repre-
dence on the causes of self-esteem is still limited. For sentative sample indicating that self-esteem increases from
example, it would be desirable to know whether—and if young adulthood to about age 60 years and then decreases
so, how—positive and negative life events alter a per- into old age.
son’s self-esteem trajectory (for a discussion of appropri- Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2013).
ate research designs, see Luhmann, Orth, Specht, Kandler, Development of self-esteem. In V. Zeigler-Hill (Ed.), Self-
& Lucas, 2014). Also, given that theory emphasizes the esteem (pp. 60–79). London, England: Psychology Press. A
interpersonal dimension of self-esteem (Leary, 2012), review of theory and research on self-esteem development
future research should more strongly consider self-esteem and on mechanisms that promote continuity and change in
development within the context of close relationships self-esteem.
(Erol & Orth, 2014). Wagner, J., Gerstorf, D., Hoppmann, C., & Luszcz, M. A. (2013).
(See References). A longitudinal study on the self-esteem
Future research should also examine the extent to
trajectory in old age, suggesting that low cognitive abilities
which self-esteem stability is produced by cognitive contribute to declining self-esteem at the end of life.
biases (e.g., selective attention to positive vs. negative
information about the self) versus actual stability of the
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
more objective sources of self-esteem (e.g., competen-
cies, social acceptance, successful life experiences). The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with
respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
However, the fact that self-esteem systematically rises
and falls across the life span suggests that the stability of
self-esteem cannot be explained exclusively by biases in Funding
information processing. This research was supported by Swiss National Science
The research reviewed in this article has several impor- Foundation Grant PP00P1-123370 to U. Orth and National
tant implications. First, the findings about self-esteem’s Institute on Drug Abuse Grant DA017902 to R. W. Robins.
normative life-span trajectory are important because for a
long time researchers believed that self-esteem does not References
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