Self-esteem development from age 14 to 30 years: a longitudinal study

J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011 Sep;101(3):607-19. doi: 10.1037/a0024299.

Abstract

We examined the development of self-esteem in adolescence and young adulthood. Data came from the Young Adults section of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which includes 8 assessments across a 14-year period of a national probability sample of 7,100 individuals age 14 to 30 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem increases during adolescence and continues to increase more slowly in young adulthood. Women and men did not differ in their self-esteem trajectories. In adolescence, Hispanics had lower self-esteem than Blacks and Whites, but the self-esteem of Hispanics subsequently increased more strongly, so that at age 30 Blacks and Hispanics had higher self-esteem than Whites. At each age, emotionally stable, extraverted, and conscientious individuals experienced higher self-esteem than emotionally unstable, introverted, and less conscientious individuals. Moreover, at each age, high sense of mastery, low risk taking, and better health predicted higher self-esteem. Finally, the results suggest that normative increase in sense of mastery accounts for a large proportion of the normative increase in self-esteem.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Distribution
  • Conscience
  • Ethnicity / psychology
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data
  • Extraversion, Psychological
  • Female
  • Health Status
  • Human Development / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Introversion, Psychological
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Personality
  • Risk-Taking
  • Self Concept*
  • Sex Distribution
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Young Adult