The nature and correlates of self-esteem trajectories in late life.

Abstract

Is it possible to maintain a positive perspective on the self into very old age? Empirical research so far is rather inconclusive with some studies reporting substantial self-esteem declines late in life, whereas others report relative stability into old age. In this report, we examine long-term change trajectories in self-esteem in old age and very old age and link them to key correlates in the health, cognitive, self-regulatory, and social domains. To do so, we estimate growth curve models over chronological age and time-to-death using 18-year longitudinal data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N = 1,215; age 65-103 at first occasion; M = 78.8 years, SD = 5.9, 45% women). Results revealed that self-esteem was, on average, fairly stable with minor declines only emerging in advanced ages and at the very end of life. Examining the vast between-person differences revealed that lower cognitive abilities and lower perceived control independently related to lower self-esteem. Also, lower cognitive abilities were associated with steeper age-related and mortality-related self-esteem decrements. In our discussion, we consider a variety of challenges that potentially shape selfesteem late in life and highlight the need for more mechanism-oriented research to better understand the pathways underlying stability and change in self-esteem.Word count: 204

Self-esteem development across the life span: A longitudinal study with a large sample from Germany.

“…Across studies, the increase corresponded to about one third to one half of a standard deviation, and the decrease to about two thirds of a standard deviation. Additional longitudinal studies have focused on specific developmental periods such as adolescence (Wagner, Gerstorf, et al, 2013;Wagner et al, 2014). Overall, the results of these studies are consistent with the lifespan trajectory summarized above.…”

“…Given that relationships are one of the most influential factors of self-esteem (Leary & Baumeister, 2000;MacDonald & Leary, 2012), significant loss in the relationship domain might lead to reduced self-esteem in old age. Third, in old age people often experience negative changes with regard to other important sources of self-esteem, such as SELF-ESTEEM DEVELOPMENT 7 socioeconomic status (as indicated by income and occupational prestige) and health (e.g., reduced mobility and declining cognitive and physical abilities; Baltes & Mayer, 1999;Wagner, Gerstorf, Hoppmann, & Luszcz, 2013), which might further impair self-esteem. …”

Motivations for participation in physical activity across the lifespan

“…The trend line for this composite of motivations for exercising drops off right after the teen years and continues its decline into and beyond the 50s. While research supports the notion that elements of the mental toughness factor, for instance, self-esteem and experiencing mastery, can be favorably impacted through exercise participation (Hawker, 2012;Spence, McGannon, & Poon, 2005;Springer, Lamborn, & Pollard, 2013), the fact that older individuals appear to be less motivated to exercise for such reasons might suggest that either these concerns are less relevant to their lives (e.g., self-esteem is reasonably well-established; see Wagner, Gerstorf, Hoppmann, & Luszcz, 2013) or that exercising has stronger connections to other personal goals.…”

Social resource correlates of levels and time-to-death-related changes in late-life affect.

“…Just over half the sample (51.3%) were married or partnered at baseline, 57.2% reported leaving school aged 14 years or younger, and 8% reported having no children. Consistent with previous studies (Gerstorf, Ram, Estabrook, et al, 2008; Wagner, Gerstorf, Hoppmann, & Luszcz, 2013) we examined longitudinal selectivity by comparing the characteristics of those who participated over multiple repeated assessments with those of the total analysis sample at baseline using an effect size metric described by Lindenberger, Singer, and Baltes (2002) ( SD denominator derived from the 1,297 deceased participants of the total analysis sample). Most of the differences were modest, with participants who provided observations at three or more assessments ( n = 391) more likely to be female (0.08 SD ), partnered (0.13 SD ), to have higher education (0.11 SD ), and to be more socially integrated (0.10 SD for contact with children, 0.11 SD for satisfaction with family, 0.16 SD for satisfaction with friends, 0.06 SD for confidant availability).…”