Narrative Agency and Communion as Predictors of Self-Esteem Level, Instability and Change During the University-to-Work Transition

IDA alumna Guðrún Rut Guðmundsdóttir presented her Master thesis at the graduation ceremony of the IDA cohort 2021-2023.

Individual differences in self-esteem prospectively predict important life outcomes, but less is known about the sources of short-term (state) fluctuations and long-term (trait) changes in self-esteem over time. We examined this in the context of the university-to-work transition and focused on agency and communion as predictors, theorised as central contingencies of self-esteem. As previous research has mainly employed self-report measures, we coded themes of agency and communion from personal self-defining narratives about an earlier turning point. We used data from a five-wave study following Dutch master‘s students (N = 281, Mage = 24.5, 75% females) across two years of their transition to work. Participants completed an online questionnaire at each wave and 14 days of experience sampling. Agency and communion were positively associated with trait self-esteem at the start of the transition (aim 1), but did not significantly predict self-esteem state fluctuations (aim 2) or trait change (aim 3). However, contrasting previous research, we did not find significant individual differences in trait self-esteem change, which may have contributed to these results. Agency was more robustly related to self-esteem across analyses, and was also a considerably more common theme in student‘s narratives compared to communion. Agency may thus be a more salient motive to young adults in the context of the work transition, and more relevant for their evaluations of themselves. The findings suggest that personal narratives provide a promising avenue for better understanding the antecedents of self-esteem, and more research is warranted to ascertain how the two are related longitudinally.
Keywords: Self-esteem, Narrative identity, Agency, Communion, Work transition

Guðrún is now continuing her academic career as a PhD student at Maastricht University . Congratulations Guðrún and best of luck with your new position!