Age and Race Differences in the Trajectories of Self-Esteem

Benjamin A. Shaw*, Jersey Liang, Neal Krause

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to assess age- and race-based variation in within-persons changes in self-esteem over a 16-year period. We used hierarchical linear modeling with data from 3,617 adults 25 years of age and older who were interviewed up to 4 times. Self-esteem increased, on average, over the course of the study period. At the same time, significant age variations around this trend were observed, with younger adults experiencing increases in self-esteem and older adults experiencing decreases. In general, race differences were not evident with respect to average levels or rates of change in self-esteem. However, a significant Age × Race interaction suggested that late-life declines in self-esteem were steeper for Blacks compared with Whites. These findings suggest the presence of age- and race-based stratification with respect to self-esteem. Future work in this area should examine the health and well-being effects of declining self-esteem during old age.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-94
Number of pages11
JournalPsychology and aging
Volume25
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 03 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Age differences
  • Race differences
  • Self-esteem trajectories

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