The Benefits of Believing You Can Change: Incremental Theories Weaken the Links Between Low Self-esteem and Negative Outcomes

Background: Intervention-related research suggests that there are two ways to combat the negative consequences of low self-esteem: improving the level of self-esteem, or reducing the links between low self-esteem and negative outcomes (L. Hayes & Ciarrochi, 2015). Incremental theories tend to prevent low-self-esteem from occurring in response to failure. Aims: We sought to examine whether incremental theories can also decouple the links between low self-esteem and negative outcomes in two large samples. Method: Study 1 surveyed 489 Australian female high school students (age: M = 14.7; SD = 1.5) and Study 2 surveyed a representative sample of 7,884 adult Americans of both genders (age: M = 47.9; SD = 16; 52.5% female). Results: Moderation analyses in both samples showed that the links between low self-esteem and negative outcomes (lower wellbeing and achievement) were weaker for those with stronger incremental theories. Conclusions: People are likely to experience fluctuations in self-esteem due to success, failure, and social rejection. Those with chronically low self-esteem may be especially likely to benefit from interventions which promote perceptions of self-malleability.