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

Yi Jing Chua; Nadyanna M Majeed; Verity Y Q Lua; Chi-Ying Cheng; Andree Hartanto

doi:10.1177/00332941231188748

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

Psychol Rep. 2023 Jul 17:332941231188748. doi: 10.1177/00332941231188748. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yi Jing Chua¹, Nadyanna M Majeed², Verity Y Q Lua³, Chi-Ying Cheng¹, Andree Hartanto¹

Affiliations

¹ Singapore Management University, Singapore.
² National University of Singapore, Singapore.
³ Stanford University, California, USA.

PMID: 37458270
DOI: 10.1177/00332941231188748

Abstract

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 (N_participants = 243, N_days = 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.

Keywords: Daily self-esteem; daily diary; daily stressor exposure; multilevel modelling; subjective socioeconomic status.