Subjective Socioeconomic Status Moderates Self-Esteem Reactivity to Daily Stressor Exposure: Evidence From a Daily Diary Approach

• Published in: Psychological reports p. 332941231188748
• Main Authors: Chua, Yi Jing, Majeed, Nadyanna M., Lua, Verity Y. Q., Cheng, Chi-Ying, Hartanto, Andree
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 17.07.2023
• Subjects: daily stressor exposure; multilevel modelling; subjective socioeconomic status; daily diary; Daily self-esteem
• ISSN: 0033-2941; 1558-691X
• DOI: 10.1177/00332941231188748

Research on self-esteem reactivity has demonstrated that self-esteem fluctuates in response to daily stressor exposure, and the strength of this relationship varies between individuals. Drawing upon the positive link between objective socioeconomic status (SES) and self-esteem, how subjective SES influences self-esteem reactivity to daily stressor exposure was explored. Using a 7-day daily diary study, the current study (Nparticipants = 243, Ndays = 1651) adopted a multilevel analysis to demonstrate that subjective SES attenuated the within-person association between daily stressor exposure and daily self-esteem, even after controlling for demographics and objective indicators of SES. The interactions were also consistent across social stressors and non-social stressors. The findings provide evidence supporting the protective role of subjective SES in self-esteem reactivity to daily stressor exposure.