Change in Self-Esteem across the Life-Span

This essay analyses the impact and pattern of change in self-esteem through different stages of life like childhood, adolescence, adulthood and older age. It also highlights the factors leading to change in self-esteem and outcomes associated with it.

Running head: PERSONALITY ESSAY
Change in Self-Esteem across the Life-Span
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
An important aspect of life is self-esteem. The development of self-esteem starts from
early childhood and its level is not constant as it changes with different stages of life. The
following essay aims to analyse the impact and the pattern of change in self-esteem through
the different stages of life like childhood, adolescence, adulthood and older age. The analysis
of the paper in relation to self-esteem highlighted that the level of self-esteem is decreases
during adolescence and older age with highest level of self-esteem recorded during the
adulthood. Increase in the level of self-esteem is impacted via change in the surrounding
environment, gender, nationality and ethnicity. People having higher self-esteem are tend to
succeed in their professional life and are stated to nurture healthy professional relationships.
With high self-esteem an individual is stated to quality health and well-being. This quality
health and well-being is associated with reduced level of depression, stress and anxiety.

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Introduction
Numerous studies have been conducted in order to study the development of self-
esteem but the authors have failed to generate consensual portrait of change in self-esteem
across the entire lifespan of an individual. Under the context of the behavioural psychology,
self esteem is defined as an individuals’ subjective emotional evaluation of his or her
personal worth. It is mainly regarded as the decision which is made by an individual as an
attitude towards self. However, the level of self-esteem varies from person to person and on
the basis of age and gender. This difference in the level of self esteem influences the overall
outcome of life. Human lifespan is made of four different stages starting from childhood,
adolescence, adulthood and older age. Scientific evidence suggests that the level of self-
esteem differs with age and this in turn promote the cognitive and social development. The
following essay mainly aims to analyse change in self-esteem through different stages of life.
In order to discuss the topic in detail, the essay will throw light on three different aspects of
self esteem like trajectory of self-esteem, from childhood to old age, factors leading to change
in self-esteem and outcomes associated with change in self-esteem.
Discussion
Trajectory of self-esteem from childhood to old age
Self-esteem is inherently associated with several personality traits like emotional
stability, conscientiousness and extraversion (Orth, Trzesniewski & Robins, 2010). On an
average, the level of self-esteem increases with age starting from young stage of adulthood to
midlife and remains high until old age. The level of conscientiousness increases during the
life span of adulthood and then start decreasing during the old age. The level of extraversion
however shows negligible increase across the adult phase of life. Orth and Robins (2014)

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stated the trajectory of self-esteem follows a curvature that is identical to emotional stability
and conscientiousness (starting from adulthood to midlife). However, question remains
regarding whether personality factor and self-esteem are dependent or independent on each
other or whether self-esteem increases during the stage of adulthood because there is an
increase in the emotional stability and conscientiousness. There also exist an opposite
argument like whether increase in emotional stability and conscientiousness is due to an
increase in the overall self-esteem. However, Orth, Trzesniewski and Robins (2010)
highlighted that self-esteem trajectory drives the emotional stability trajectory and this it can
be stated that low self-esteem prospectively influences the development of depression but the
opposite concept is not applicable. Moreover, there also an inversely proportional
relationships between self-esteem trajectories and conscientiousness trajectories thus
individuals who are increasing conscientiousness will gain comparatively more success in life
which will help to boost their self-esteem.
The study conducted by Orth, Trzesniewski and Robins (2010) highlighted that during
childhood, a child gradually develops self-views which are based on the unrealistically
positive information and this promote a significant increase in self-esteem. The level of high
self-esteem decreases as the child move from pre-school level of elementary school level and
progress towards more realistic expectations. The process of self-evaluation occurs in relation
to the teachings coming from their closed peers like parents, teachers and other family
members. This kind of external feedback and social comparison expose the individuals to
more accurate judgement about oneself however, such judgement are majorly negative.
The longitudinal study conducted by Marshall et al. (2014) highlighted that an
individual transits from childhood to adolescence is brimmed cognitive development. They
become conscious about their body image associated with puberty and succumb to other
problems associated with puberty. This sudden exposure of pubertal change is associated

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with social challenges. Missed opportunities or failed expectations. Under these situations of
turmoil, they fail to approach each situation succinctly and thus leading to a sharp decrease in
self-esteem (Marshall et al., 2014)
Adulthood is marked by gradual increase in self-esteem and reaches its highest level
by the age of 60. Throughout adulthood, an individual utilises his or her capabilities in order
to gain a powerful status within the society (Chung et al., 2014). These successful endeavours
promote feelings of self-worth. According to Wagner et al. (2013), these successful
endeavours promote brings positive outlook about oneself and the same is reflected in one’s
self-esteem.
During the stage of older adults, Mullen, Gothe and McAuley (2013) highlighted that
the level of self-esteem starts degenerating and this process of degeneration is influenced via
significant changes in life like retirement, death of closed peers and low physical
competency. This data is in accordance with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Such
emotional changes are manifested through depression and this lead to a decrease in the self-
esteem. At older age many people experiences emotional crisis which hampers their quality
of life and self-worth which in turn decreases the level of self-esteem. Thus it can be said that
largest mean level increase in self-esteem occurs during the adult life span and largest decline
occurs during old age (Mullen, Gothe & McAuley. 2013)
Factors leading to change in self-esteem across the lifespan
Big Five Dimensions of Personality and influence over self-esteem
The main factors leading to change in self-esteem is mainly defined by the big five
personality dimensions. The Big Five Dimensions of Personality mainly consists of
Extraversion/Introversion, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability/Neuroticism, Openness
and Agreeableness towards new experience. These five different dimensions are responsible

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in casting a strong impact on the self-esteem among the individuals across different socio-
economic status, age, gender, ethnicity and nationality (Rammstedt et al., 2017). The
relationship between the five dimensions and self-esteem lies in the developmental roots of
gene and environment (Rammstedt et al., 2017). According to the study conducted by
Krapohl et al. (2014) 30% variance in self-esteem arises from heritable traits. Like having
temperamental characteristics are mainly is mainly driven by genes. Under the trajectory of
age, it has visualised that both male and female at their adolescence direct their personality
dispositions in order to build up negative effect which eventually decreases their self-esteem
during this phase. At the core of extraversion, the positive flow of energy increases the level
of self-esteem among the individuals (Rammstedt et al., 2017). The component of
neuroticism increases the sense of distorted self-esteem which eventually increases with age.
This lead to change in personality, individual’s beliefs and their reactions under certain
situations. The outcome of sudden situation further affect the level of self-esteem and this in
turn regulate their ability to engage successfully in difficult circumstances (Rammstedt et al.,
2017).
Gender Differences influenced by Environmental factors and affect on self-esteem
Research evidence highlights that gender differences which are modulated by the
environmental factors is one of the modulators of self-esteem among both male and female
(Robins et al., 2002). Conversation with the family members is regarded as the main source
of such environmental factors affecting the self-esteem. Bleidorn et al. (2016) argued that
genetic predisposition is instrumental in influencing self-esteem in both male and females.
Further research in this field have helped to gain information regarding how mental changes
occurring change in the socio-cultural factors and puberty lead to variable trajectories in the
evolution of self-esteem across two different genders following their adulthood and old-age
(Bleidorn et al., 2016). Traditionally, males have been found to possess high level of self-

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esteem throughout their adolescence whereas females do not exhibit the pattern of continuous
linear growth. Females are more prone to experience radical increase or decrease in their self-
esteem during their adolescence stage. Female are more oriented towards self-objectification,
symptoms of disordered eating, appearance anxiety and body during teenage years. The
consequences of such dissatisfaction decreases after the age of 30 but this initially exposure
leads to subsequent decrease in self-esteem (Robins et al., 2002).
Nationality and Ethnic Difference in Self-Esteem
The emergence of ethnic differences influence the level of self-esteem and the same
has been observed in the study conducted by Trzesniewski, Donnellan and Robins (2013).
Trzesniewski, Donnellan and Robins (2013) mainly studied the influence of ethnic and
nationality difference of self-esteem among Latinos, Asians, Middle-Eastern population and
black males. Their study highlighted that self-esteem among the Latino boys increase during
their adolescence and decreases in their adulthood and this is unlikely to the normal self-
esteem trajectory. Identical deviations were observed in case of Middle-Eastern and Asian
population whose level of self-esteem peaked during the transition from adulthood to old age.
Outcomes associated with change in self-esteem
The changes in self-esteem across the lifespan influence several outcomes of life
starting from satisfaction in relationships, the level of job satisfaction, occupational stress,
salary, depression and physical health. There is an ongoing argument that individuals with
higher levels of self-esteem have better access to chances in life in comparison to the
individuals with low level of self-esteem. The study conducted by Orth, Robins and
Widaman (2012) highlighted a completely different outcome. They stated that there is no
distinct relation between successes of a person with their self-esteem.

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Before discussing the outcome of self-esteem development, it is important to
understand the relation between self-esteem and the outcomes of life. Self-esteem is the
behavior of an individual regarding how a person would react under certain situations in
different phases of life. This differs from person to person and mainly depends upon the
amount of self-esteem present. Some possible outcomes of changes in self-esteem include
satisfaction in relationship, occupational status, overall mental and physical health and job
remuneration.
Level of satisfaction in relationship
Level of satisfaction in relationship is positively associated with the level of self-
esteem. Humans beings with higher level of self-esteem display higher relationship
satisfaction under the influence of their enhancing behavioural patterns that helps them to
sustain in a relationship for a longer period of time. People with poor self-esteem are found to
suffer from poor relationship with destroying behaviour which also affects the relationship in
their marital life (Marcia, 2017). People with low self-esteem generally do not abide by the
models of healthy relationship skills like conflict resolution, healthy boundaries, cooperation
and assertiveness. This hampers the status of overall responsibility. Often which remain
relationally abandoned since childhood suffers from poor self-esteem during their adulthood.
This not only affects their personal relationships but also hampers their approach of viewing
life. Children with low self-esteem are unable to develop long-lasting relation in schools and
also lag required skills to freely communicate with peers, which further blocks the scope of
developing new healthy relationship (Orth, Robins & Widaman, 2012). Thus it can be sated
that disturbed childhood under poor environmental surroundings hampers the self-esteem of
the individuals which in turn affects the quality relationships in their personal life.

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Occupational status
According to Orth, Robins and Widaman (2012), poor self-esteem is associated with
occupational status of an individual. Occupational status is a principal determinant of socio-
economic status. Higher level of education increases the level of self-esteem and this
increases their level of aspiration of high salaried jobs, which further strengthens their level
of self-esteem. Kuster, Orth and Meier (2013) highlighted that positive evaluation of self
from adolescent to adulthood is associated with highly paid jobs. The level of confidence and
determination assist them to survive under any particular job culture for a longer period. In
relation to the theory of Career Construction and the theory of Self-Verification, it can be
sated that people with high self-esteem can easily adapt themselves under a wide range of
workplace culture. The theory also highlight that people with higher level of self-esteem have
high pro-active attitude in workplace (Cai et al., 2015). This proactive attitude helps them to
succeed in work in comparison to the people with poor self-esteem. People with poor self-
esteem suffer from irrational fear of rejection or becomes irritated quickly and this hampers
their performance (Orth, Robins & Widaman. 2012). One with poor self-esteem nurture a
pessimistic attitude that disrupts the interpersonal communication skills and thereby affecting
the overall job related performance. This is the reason why certain individuals with high
qualifications often fail to succeed in life due to poor self-esteem and lack of confidence (Cai
et al., 2015).
Health and Wellbeing
According to the study conducted by Robins et al. (2002) individuals with high level
of self-esteem are found have sound health. For example, individuals with high level of self-
esteem can speak freely for advice and for social support and are more likely to take good
care of their health. Moreover, individuals with high self-esteem are less likely to suffer from
stress and anxiety and possess healthy coping behavior. Orth, Robins and Widaman (2012)

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people with high level of self-esteem are more likely to contribute to the family and society.
They also have higher capacity of coping up with adversities of life while keeping their
nerves strong. People with high self-esteem possess effective skills of socialization and can
interact freely with other people (Robins et al. 2002). This free interaction helps to overcome
the communication problems like difficulty in approaching people and this in turn help to
increase the overall level of self-esteem (Pearson, 2016). Orth, Robins and Widaman (2012)
also stated that low self-esteem increases the vulnerability of depression. This effect of poor
self-esteem is same for both male and female and across the age group starting from
adolescence to old age. The study conducted by Robins et al. (2002) however highlighted that
poor self-esteem can be regarded as a consequence rather than the cause of depression. Thus,
it can be said that people with poor self-esteem suffer from poor health status and this mainly
arise from increase in the level of depression, anxiety and violence.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, there occurs a gamut change
in self-esteem throughout the different stages of life. The trajectory of self-esteem is
associated with different personality traits and as the level of conscientiousness increases
through the stages of life there occurs changes in the personality level. The sense of self-
esteem during adulthood is high and then as a person attains adolescence the level of self-
esteem decreases and then gradually increases in adulthood. However, as a person gets old,
social insecurity decreases the level of self-esteem. The main factors affecting the level of
self-esteem include five dimensions of personality, gender difference, nationality and
ethnicity. The outcomes of change in self-esteem are reflected in the level of satisfaction in
the personal and professional relationship, modulation in the occupational status and mental
and physical health and well-being. Thus overall it can be said that self-esteem holds

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prominent significance throughout the life of an individual and its change in different stages
of life affects the overall life-related outcome.

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