Temporal variability in global self-esteem and specific self-evaluation as prospective predictors of emotional distress: specificity in predictors and outcome.

Recent studies have found that temporal variability and reactivity in self-esteem (SE) are associated with risk for depressive symptoms subsequent to life stress. It is unclear, however, whether it is variability uniquely in SE that is critical, or whether variability in other domains, such as specific self-evaluation (SSE) and affect, would show similar effects. Further, the specificity of these effects to depression is unknown. In the present study, initially nondepressed women completed 7 daily ratings of SE, SSE, and affect. Over a 6-week prospective interval, the interactions of stressful life events and variability in both SE and SSE predicted changes in depression, particularly in individuals with more severe worst lifetime episodes of depressive symptoms. These effects were independent of average level of SE and SSE, as well as neuroticism and self-concept uncertainty. In contrast, variability in affect failed to predict changes in depression in interaction with life stress. Finally, none of the predictor variables interacted with stressful life events in predicting changes in anxiety.