Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice Toward a Positive ...

156 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEachieved quasi-stability by emphasizing one over the other in a reliablefashion as those who live competence or worthiness-based self-esteemseem to do. Such an unstable foundation makes one vulnerable to situationalevents affecting one’s competence or worthiness. Thus, this type ofself-esteem tends to rise or fall on short notice just as the research found(Kernis, 2003a, b). Such uncompensated gaps between competence andworthiness are most likely to be found in the upper left and lower rightquadrants of the matrix, as low self-esteem tends to be more steadybecause it is balanced, although in a negative direction.Readers of the previous editions will note that I have used differentterms to describe two types of self-esteem. In this edition the labels of“Defensive Self-Esteem I” and “Defensive Self-Esteem II” have beenchanged to “Worthiness-based Self-Esteem” and “Competence-basedSelf-Esteem,” respectively, for two reasons. First, although the term“defensive” certainly is descriptive clinically, the numerals I and II do notsay much about how they are different from each other. Second, the newterms presented in this edition are not only more descriptive, but theyalso reveal their connections to the fundamental structure of self-esteemmore clearly. Although the names have changed, the dynamics and characteristicsassociated with each type of self-esteem remain the same. Inany case, the point is that when looking at the fundamental structure ofself-esteem, it is not surprising that research shows that when it is basedon incomplete definitions, high self-esteem is associated with narcissism,egotism, defensiveness, aggression, success, approval, and so forth. Onceagain, it is the imbalance of the two factors that creates the problem ofthe heterogeneity of self-esteem, much of which is cleared up when selfesteemis defined in terms of competence and worthiness.REFINING THE TYPES: INTEGRATING LEVELSOF SELF-ESTEEMSo far, we have seen that it is possible for the matrix to accommodatefour basic types of self-esteem, as well as paradoxical and unstable formsof it, all of which are found in the research on self-esteem. Although partof the picture, this basic typology does not integrate other research thatwe encountered in Chapter 3 concerning levels of self-esteem. For example,it will be recalled that some work indicated that low self-esteem isassociated with clinical problems whereas other work describes it in moreneutral terms.A similar issue was encountered in the development of the fourthedition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorderssystem (DSM-IV-TR or simply DSM) (American Psychiatric Association,