title: Self-esteem instability and personality: the connections between feelings of self-worth and the big five dimensions of personality.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA zeiglerh@oakland.edu.
authors.forename: Virgil
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zeigler-Hill
authors.affiliation: Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.affiliation: Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Enjaian
authors.affiliation: Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Ashton C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Southard
authors.affiliation: Sapir Academic College, D.N. Hof Ashkelon, Israel.
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Besser
authors.affiliation: Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Haijiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Qinglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012649:Self Concept; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Big Five; fragile; instability; personality; self-esteem; unstable