The nature of adolescents’ real-time self-esteem from a dynamic systems perspective

From a Dynamic Systems perspective, real-time processes are the building blocks for long-term development. While the long-term development of self-esteem has frequently been researched, few studies have examined the real-time processes of self-esteem. Moreover, the studies that have done so have not considered the socially-embedded nature of self-esteem, while classic studies have shown that this is an important characteristic of self-esteem. The aim of this chapter is to extend our current theoretical approach to real-time processes of self-esteem by emphasizing the role of the immediate social environment. This is formalized in the Socially Embedded Self-Esteem model, and in the specific context of adolescence and the role of parents. The model describes how real-time components of adolescents’ self-esteem and crucial parental behaviours interact across real time, and that this ongoing process results in the self-organization of Socially Embedded Self-Esteem attractors. The chapter provides an empirical illustration of such a system, and the socially embedded self-esteem attractors that can be observed. Aside from demonstrating the key points of the model, the case study also illustrates that empirically examining the Socially Embedded Self-Esteem system in real time makes it possible to examine whether group-based associations between parental behavior and adolescent self-esteem hold at the level of the individual dyad and the real-time timescale.