A self-esteem process framework of the transition to work

Project Information

Self-EsteemProcesses

Grant agreement ID: 846839

DOI

10.3030/846839

Project closed

EC signature date 4 April 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 26 September 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 175 572,48

EU contribution

€ 175 572,48

Coordinated by

TILBURG UNIVERSITY- UNIVERSITEIT VAN TILBURG
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Self-EsteemProcesses (A self-esteem process framework of the transition to work)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The transition into the workforce is a major developmental milestone in young adulthood that brings major life changes. This project aimed to examine the impact of this transition on self-esteem. Self-esteem is among the strongest predictors of major life outcomes, including mental and physical health, economic prospects and longevity. Self-esteem was long thought to be highly stable. Today we know that self-esteem can change. Yet, knowledge about the processes that elicit change is scarce but needed to develop theories and interventions directed at promoting successful development of young adults.

This project advanced the understanding of the processes underlying self-esteem change in the context of the transition to work theoretically and empirically. I integrated theoretical perspectives from personality, social and developmental psychology in an overarching process framework that considers contexts, changeability, and individual differences. I specified dynamic long- and short-term processes underlying self-esteem development during life events that pave the way for future research. I have examined this framework empirically, which has provided novel insights into the mechanisms underlying self-esteem development (see below). Overall, I found that self-esteem can change during the transition to work, but individuals differed greatly in the direction and magnitude of this change. These individual differences in change were partly explained by individual differences in how the transition unfolded in people’s lives (e.g. emotions, job satisfaction, sense of mastering the transition).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

A main goal of the project was to collect an intensive longitudinal data set of young adult’s transition from education (i.e. university) to work. I recruited 301 Master’s students in their last year of their programs and assessed them 5 times across 2 years, while they transitioned from studying to working. I assessed rich information on their personality development using questionnaires and on their daily and momentary experiences using mobile assessments (see www.tilburguniversity.edu/gradlife; https://osf.io/fwak9/).

Another major aim was to publish high-impact articles using this data (complemented by existing data) to obtain new insights into the processes of self-esteem and personality development. Overall, the work has been published in seven peer-reviewed research articles in Q1-journals in the field of personality psychology. The following results were obtained:
1. Description of personality, including self-esteem development in the context of life events. I examined whether and how life events lead to changes in personality development. I found that job entry (Reitz et al., 2020; 2022), new occupations (Reitz et al., 2021), and bereavement (Reitz et al., 2022) hardly predicted average changes in Big Five traits, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. However, self-esteem and life satisfaction decreased even before unemployment (Reitz et al., 2021). Loneliness increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (Lodder et al., 2020). Personality also affected the experience of life events (selection): Individuals with high levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction were more likely to become employed and less likely to become unemployed (Reitz et al., 2021).
2. Capturing and explaining individual variability. My research has shown that individuals vary considerably in their personality development. Self-esteem and "personality maturity" increased for some and decreased for others during career entry (Reitz et al., 2020; 2021; 2022). Individual and contextual factors were associated with this variability, such as job satisfaction. Individuals also responded differently to bereavement depending on the significance of the loss (Reitz et al., 2021).
3. Explanation of processes underlying personality and self-esteem change. In several projects I investigated how life events indirectly affect personality via processes in daily life (situations; ABCD: Affect, Behavior, Cognitions, Desires) and how these processes first affect states and then traits. I have found that daily success situations were associated with the development of self-esteem (Reitz et al., 2020) and "personality maturity" (Reitz et al., 2022) and that pride (Diwan et al., under review) and narrative identity (van Doeselaar & Reitz, 2022) were associated with state self-esteem during the education-to-work transition. In addition, I have developed an integrative theoretical process framework on self-esteem development, which I have published as a solo author (Reitz, 2022).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The action has contributed novel insights into when, how, and why personality changes in the context of major life events, which has important implications. This action provides several important new insights that can inform the current endeavour to place personality more in the center of prevention and intervention programs directed at improving well-being:

First, I found that self-esteem, the Big Five traits, and life satisfaction can change in adulthood during major life events. This makes life events, especially those in young adulthood important developmental windows for prevention programs.

Second, my work provided new information regarding the timing of such programs. I found that personality trait change can be observed over 4 months, which is a novel finding and underlines the dynamic aspects of personality. Hence, personality might change during interventions and such change might happen faster than previously thought.

Third, another insight regarding the timing concerns my finding of anticipatory change. People decreased in their self-esteem already before unemployment began, which points to anticipatory processes. Hence, programs should start before unemployment begins.

Fourth, I identified a group at risk: People with low self-esteem and low life satisfaction seem to be more likely to become unemployed and less likely to (re)enter the labor market, which decreases their self-esteem and life satisfaction further in a downward spiral. Especially if these events are long and frequent, negative effects on their psychological adjustment might accumulate, which makes this group an important target group for prevention programs.

Fifth, my work has revealed some promising mechanisms that could be targeted in programs directed at promoting well-being in young adults. Their transition experience differs to a large degree and their subjective experience of mastering this transition plays a big role for their adjustment. Programs should focus on supporting young adults in this transition by tailoring the transition experience more to their needs.

Sixth, my work has underlined that people do not experience major life events in isolation, but with their social relationship partners. I found for the first time that a person’s loss of a close person predicted decreased self-esteem levels in the romantic partner. Hence, couples should be considered as a developmental unit in prevention and intervention programs.

Figure 1. A process framework of life-event triggered self-esteem development.