Research suggests that self-esteem could be a protective factor in stressful or unfavourable situations. However, little research has been done on the buffering role of self-esteem in the context of daily stressors on affective reactivity. Three daily diary studies (of which two were conducted in Singapore and one in the United States) were carried out to examine this relationship. In all three studies, trait self-esteem was measured at baseline. Subsequently, a daily assessment was conducted on the exposure to daily stressors and its positive and negative effects for seven to eight days. Multilevel modelling showed that trait self-esteem did not moderate the relationship between daily stressor exposure and daily effect. An internal meta-analysis aggregating the findings of all three studies was also consistent with our findings. These findings are contrary to previous literature surrounding the stress-buffering role of self-esteem.

Authors:
Matthew H.S. Ng, Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Ng Hok Shan Matthew has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the Singapore Management University and currently supports both the Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore as a Research Coordinator.

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