| Kernis, M.H., Whisenhunt, C.R., Waschull, S.B., Greenier, K.D., Berry,
A.J., Herlocker, C.E., & Anderson, C.A. (1998).
Multiple facets of self-esteem and their relations to depressive symptoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 657-668. Abstract We examined whether stability and level of self-esteem interact with daily hassles in predicting severity of depressive symptoms. As predicted, Time 2 depression scores (with Time 1 scores controlled) were highest among individuals with unstable self- esteem who reported considerable daily hassles. In contrast, self-esteem level did not interact with daily hassles to predict Time 2 depressive symptoms. These findings held even after negative self- concept items were eliminated from the depression symptom inventories. Additional analyses revealed that self-esteem stability accounted for variance independent of the tendency to overgeneralize following failure or negative event attributional style. These findings support the contention that unstable self-esteem reflects fragile feelings of self-worth that exacerbate depressive symptoms under certain circumstances. © 1997 by Michael H. Kernis. |