Do Relationships Matter for the Self?

Humans are social creatures that long for relational connectedness. At the same time, they have a strong sense of self that seeks to maximize the capabilities of the individual. In these partially contradictory motivations self-evaluation has been proposed as a major process to initiate self-regulative mechanisms. One frequently identified self-evaluative indicator is self-esteem. The present research aims at exploring the extent to which self-evaluative processes depend on and interact with social relationships. The author links the self-esteem and social relationship literature with an emphasis on age related changes and specific challenges in the context of childlessness. Two empirical studies explore differential patterns of ego-centered social networks and dyadic relationships addressing effects on global and domain-specific self-esteem as well as a new construct of relationship functioning, that is, relational self-esteem. Findings point to a relational nature of self-evaluation. In all, results open up a new perspective on personal functioning across the life span by means of differential and relationship specific considerations.

Autorentext

Dr. Jenny Wagner, Diploma in psychology at the University ofLeipzig, postgraduate studies (Ph.D.) at the MLU Halle and FAUErlangen Nuremberg 2005-2009