Daily associations between global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity and their relationships with subjective well‐being in a sample of adult workers

Abstract

ObjectivesThe present pre‐registered study examined the reciprocal day‐to‐day associations between global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity and their incremental validity with respect to daily life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect.MethodsWe used intensive longitudinal data from 153 adult workers (45.1% women), over a period of 31 days. Data were analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling.ResultsResults attested higher global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity mean levels for older vs. younger participants, and lower global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity variability for older vs. younger participants. Furthermore, global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity were correlated at a cross‐sectional daily level, yet only self‐concept clarity states positively predicted subsequent global self‐esteem states, while global self‐esteem states did not predict subsequent self‐concept clarity states. Daily global self‐esteem and daily self‐concept clarity further predicted subsequent daily higher life satisfaction and positive affect, respectively.ConclusionOverall, our findings shed light on the short‐term relationships linking global self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity, pointing to their discriminant validity in predicting individuals' subjective well‐being.