Within-person relationships between daily self-esteem, need satisfaction, and authenticity

Whitney L. Heppner , Michael H. Kernis , John B. Nezlek , Joshua Foster , Chad E. Lakey , Brian M. Goldman

Abstract

This study examined the within-person relationships among daily self-esteem, felt authenticity (i.e., the operation of one's “true self”), and satisfaction of psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We also included measures of affect to control for the variance these constructs might share with affect. Over a 2-week period, 116 participants responded daily to measures of these variables. Multilevel random-coefficients modeling revealed that authenticity, autonomy, competence, and relatedness were all positively and significantly related to daily reports of self-esteem, even when we controlled for the contributions of pleasant and unpleasant affect. We discuss the roles of authenticity and psychological needs in daily feelings of self-worth.