Staking your self-worth on success: Developmental trajectories, antecedents, and consequences of selfesteem contingency.

Research on self-esteem has mainly focused on self-esteem level. Recently, there is increasing awareness of other aspects of individuals’ self-esteem. One crucial aspect is self-esteem contingency, which refers to the extent to which one’s selfesteem depends on meeting certain internal or external standards. Although recent studies point to the negative consequences of having high self-esteem contingency, important gaps remain. This project will contribute to this rapidly growing research by focusing on three understudied questions. First, we will investigate how adolescents’ self-esteem contingency develops over time and whether multiple developmental patterns can be discerned. Second, we aim to study the unique longitudinal effect of self-esteem contingency on adolescent levels of depression and anxiety above and beyond effects of self-esteem level. Additionally, we will investigate how stress affects these relations. Third, we seek to examine the antecedent role of conditional regard in the development of adolescent self-esteem contingency. To address these three questions, we will conduct longitudinal as well as experimental research. Results of the current project will contribute to the development of a conceptual model of self-esteem contingency, its origins, and its developmental significance. Finally, results will provide important implications for future self-esteem interventions.