Self-Esteem Instability and Personality: the Connections Between Feelings of Self-Worth and the Big Five Dimensions of Personality

Relatively few studies have focused on the connections between self-esteem and basic personality dimensions. the purpose of the present studies was to examine whether self-esteem level and self-esteem instability were associated with the big five personality dimensions and whether self-esteem instability moderated the associations that self-esteem level had with these personality features. this was accomplished by conducting a series of studies that included samples from the united states,israel,and china. across these studies,self-esteem level was associated with high levels of extraversion,emotional stability,agreeableness,conscientiousness,and openness,whereas self-esteem instability was associated with low levels of emotional stability,agreeableness,and conscientiousness. individuals with stable high self-esteem reported the highest levels of emotional stability,agreeableness,and conscientiousness,whereas those with stable low self-esteem had the lowest levels of openness. the results of these studies suggest that feelings of self-worth are associated with self-reported and perceived personality features. © 2014 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.