Self-esteem instability

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Self-esteem stability refers to immediate feelings of self-esteem which, generally, will not be influenced by everyday positive or negative experiences.^[1] In contrast, unstable self-esteem refers to fragile and vulnerable feelings of self-esteem which will be influenced by internally generated, such as reflecting on one's social life, and externally received evaluative information, for example a compliment or a failed course.^[1] Rosenberg^[2] makes a distinction of baseline instability and barometric instability. Baseline instability are long term fluctuations in self-esteem that occur slowly and over an extended period of time. For example, decreases in self-esteem level are common as children transition from the relatively safe environment of elementary school to the more turbulent middle school environment, often followed by slow but steady increases in self-esteem through the high school years. Barometric instability, on the other hand, reflects short term fluctuations in one's contextually based global self-esteem. This means that someone with an unstable self-esteem will value him/herself positively on one day, but negatively on the other, this can even vary with every situation.^[3] One important feature of individuals with unstable self-esteem is how they can react very strongly on experiences that they view as relevant for their self-esteem, within this they can even see relevance for their self-esteem when there is not. Unstable self-esteem may take numerous forms. Some people may experience dramatic shifts from feeling very positively to very negatively about themselves, others may primarily fluctuate in the extent to which they feel positively or negatively about themselves. Another distinction made in the research on stability of self-esteem is between fragile and secure high self-esteem. Secure high self-esteem reflects positive feelings of self-worth that are well anchored and secure and that are positively associated with a wide range of psychological health and well-being indices. Fragile high self-esteem, however, reflects positive feelings of self-worth that are vulnerable to threat, as they require continual bolstering, protection, and validation through various self-protective or self-enhancement strategies.