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

Objectives: The 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.

Methods: We 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.

Results: Results 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.

Conclusion: Overall, 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.