اثرات غیر مستقیم نظارت عاطفی اضطراب خصلتی و انعطاف پذیری خصلتی بر عزت نفس

This study examined the influence of trait resilience and trait anxiety on self-esteem and investigated the mediating role of positive and negative affect in this relationship. Specifically, it was proposed that trait resilience and trait anxiety may exert indirect effects on self-esteem by promoting increased positive and negative affect, respectively. The final sample comprised of 240 participants (age, M = 21.55, SD = 4.16) who completed questionnaire measures of trait resilience (CD-RISC; Connor & Davidson, 2003), trait anxiety (STAI-T; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983), affect (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) and self-esteem (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965). Path analyses (AMOS), controlling for measurement error revealed significant indirect effects of trait anxiety and trait resilience on self-esteem via negative and positive affect. The indirect model provided a very close fit to the data; estimation of the full model (direct paths) did not yield a significantly better fit. It was concluded that the impact of trait anxiety and trait resilience on self-esteem may be due to their effects on regulating affective experiences which in turn may be more proximal predictors of individual feelings of self-worth.

A number of studies have investigated the individual personality and affective factors associated with self-esteem (e.g., Francis, 1996 and Swickert et al., 2004). This is of particular theoretical interest as recent discussions have conceptualised self-esteem as a fundamental psychological need serving an important adaptive function related to well-being (e.g., Sheldon, 2004). Historically, self-esteem was also described in Maslow’s (1968) hierarchy of needs. Maslow postulated that in order for an individual to reach the highest level in the hierarchy (self-actualisation), the more pressing preceding needs (including self-esteem) must first be met. Given this, it would seem relevant to investigate the manner in which particular individual characteristics serve to increase or decrease self-esteem. Research has focused to a large extent on trait anxiety as a possible factor involved in harming self-esteem (e.g., Sedikides, Rudich, Gregg, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2004), whilst there is some emerging evidence to suggest that the construct of trait resilience, the ability to adapt to the demands of stressful experiences (Lazarus, 1993), may be important in facilitating positive feelings of self-worth (Bonanno, 2004). An alternative line of research has examined the role of affective states, highlighting the importance of both positive and negative affect regulation in self-esteem (Smith and Petty, 1995 and Wood et al., 2003). The aim of this study is to draw these two lines of research together to investigate the processes underlying the associations between trait anxiety, trait resilience and self-esteem. Specifically, this paper is focused on the possibility that trait anxiety and trait resilience exert their effects on self-esteem indirectly by influencing negative and positive affective states, respectively. This ‘affect-regulation’ argument is based on the assumption that individuals are motivated to facilitate positive states and alleviate or avoid negative affect (see Larsen, 2000). There is evidence to suggest that individuals who are successful at regulating their own affective states are more likely to be high on self-esteem (e.g., Wood et al., 2003). That is, findings indicate that the tendency to emphasise or ‘savour’ positive affective states (Campbell et al., 1991 and Wood et al., 2003) and the motivational propensity to reduce negative affect (Smith & Petty, 1995) are both associated with higher levels of self-esteem. Thus, the ability to facilitate positive affect and alleviate negative affective states appears to be related to higher levels of trait self-esteem. In other words, individuals with strong feelings of self-worth may feel this way due to an emotional state characterised by increased positive affect and decreased negative affect. However, evidence also indicates that certain individual difference variables are associated with a predisposition to experiencing positive and negative affect (e.g., personality, Zelenski & Larsen, 1999). Thus, more stable personality characteristics may be important in influencing the use of positive and negative affect which in turn regulates feelings of self-esteem. Interestingly, research investigating the individual personality attributes associated with self-esteem has recently focused on trait anxiety (negative influence) and trait resilience (positive influence; Bonanno, 2004) and these specific traits have been linked with negative and positive affect, respectively (Carle and Chassin, 2004, Gray, 1987 and Tugade and Fredrickson, 2004). For example, trait anxiety has been consistently associated with a tendency to report increased negative affect possibly due to an underlying sensitivity to threat (Carver and White, 1994, Gray, 1987 and Zelenski and Larsen, 1999). It is possible therefore that the effect of trait anxiety on self-esteem may be due to the mediating effect of negative affect. Indeed, studies have revealed associations between negative affect responses to aversive situations and lower levels of self-esteem (e.g., Moreland and Sweeney, 1984 and Smith and Petty, 1995). It is possible that this tendency to respond to aversive events with negative affect is due to elevated levels of trait anxiety which is associated with an underlying sensitivity to threat and punishment (Gray, 1987). Consequently, it may be that when the highly trait anxious person encounters an adverse situation, intense negative affect results, thus promoting lower levels of self-esteem. In contrast, trait resilience has been associated with the use of positive affect (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Thus, Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) recently reported that individuals with high levels of self-reported resilience are particularly likely to use positive emotions to “bounce back” from adverse experiences. Carle and Chassin (2004) reported similar findings linking resilience to increased levels of positive affect. This heightened tendency to employ positive affect may consequently promote the development of higher self-esteem (e.g., Bonanno, 2004) as the individual is able to successfully cope with a negative experience in a positive manner. Therefore, increased use of positive affect may benefit self-esteem. Although the findings from the studies described above are concordant, Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) used a self-report resilience measure, whilst Carle and Chassin (2004) used a measure of behavioural resilience, that is, the extent to which an individual functioned competently after the experience of adversity. This difference in the measurement of trait resilience between the two studies is reflective of the wider literature in this area, and no one measure has become widely used. Research by Connor and Davidson (2003) sought to address this issue by developing a new, 25-item self-report measure of trait resilience. Their new measure draws upon the existing research by incorporating items similar to those that are covered in other measures of trait resilience and the related concept of hardiness, thus providing an assessment tool which remains relatively brief in length, yet covers a broader range of indicators. The preliminary validation study of the CD-RISC demonstrated that it is psychometrically sound, showing good reliability and validity, and it appears to be a promising assessment tool for both research and clinical practice. To date, it appears as though no studies have investigated the possible mediational effect of positive and negative affect on the association between trait anxiety, trait resilience and self-esteem. However, a recent study by Swickert et al. (2004) reported a significant indirect effect of extraversion on self-esteem via positive affect. Thus, extraversions’ influence on self-esteem was found to be significantly mediated by positive affect. This finding highlights the importance of affective states in regulating the association between a trait personality characteristic and self-esteem. The aim of the current study is to examine whether trait anxiety and trait resilience exert direct or indirect effects on self-esteem by influencing negative and positive affect, respectively. Following the affect regulation hypothesis and the preceding rationale it was hypothesised that trait anxiety would show a significant negative indirect effect on self-esteem by facilitating negative affect. In contrast it was expected that trait resilience would demonstrate a significant positive indirect effect on self-esteem by promoting positive affect.