Moderating effects of self-esteem instability on the association between self-esteem level and emotional reactions to receiving comfort among Japanese university students

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between self-esteem and emotional reactions to receiving comfort has been extensively studied in social and personality psychology, but the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, this study investigated the association between emotional reactions to receiving comfort from friends and self-esteem by examining whether an instability in self-esteem mediates the association between self-esteem levels and comfort effectiveness. Japanese university students (N = 115) read a vignette involving comfort and completed a questionnaire evaluating the emotions they felt when a friend offered comfort. They also completed a daily measure of state self-esteem for 7 days, the perceived self-Esteem instability measure (P-SEI), and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES). Results were derived using multiple regression analysis. The interaction between P-SEI and RSES predicted gratitude when gender, friendship intimacy, seriousness, and controllability of the scenario were controlled for. The interaction between state self-esteem and instability was not significant. People with stable low self-esteem felt less grateful when comforted than those with unstable self-esteem, but they showed high gratitude and low hostility when comforted by a close friend. Although participants with stable low self-esteem were less impacted by comforted, the comfort provided by close friends induced positive emotions. This study offers a more comprehensive understanding of the correlations between self-esteem and the effectiveness of comfort by concurrently employing different self-esteem measurement tools and revealing the importance of the level and stability of self-esteem.

Keywords

• Self-esteem instability
• Sociometer theory
• Mental health
• Emotional responses
• Friendship