Coping with threats to self-esteem: the differing patterns of subjects with high versus low trait self-esteem in first-person accounts
✍ Scribed by Astrid Schütz
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 206 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0890-2070
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Based on retrospective self-reports, strategies of coping with threats to self-esteem in close relationships were investigated in a sample of 412 adults in south-west Germany. Results indicate that self-esteem was negatively associated with experiencing failure or criticism as a threat to self-esteem. There was a positive association between participants' self-esteem and their self-reported tendency to approach the problem optimistically and act in a rational manner. Self-esteem was negatively associated with feeling dependent on the partner and with treating the partner in a hostile way. As far as women were concerned, self-esteem was also positively related to coping eectiveness. In the case of men the results were less clear. It is suggested that the self-defeating coping style associated with low self-esteem may be self-perpetuating.