Does low self-esteem predict lower well-being after the dissolution of a relationship?

First published on April 15, 2021 in Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211005843

Commentary

It has been said that people with low self-esteem are more vulnerable to the costs of partner dissolution on their well-being, but some methodological limitations suggest that we may be overestimating such vulnerability.

To overcome these limitations, we applied propensity score matching (PSM) to analyze participants who experienced a breakup in the past year (N = 1,333) and those who maintained a romantic relationship (N = 1,333).

These results showed that those who experienced a breakup reported lower later happiness compared to those who maintained the relationship.

Using the PSM to provide a rigorous test of the well-being effects of dissolution reveals a general resilience when experiencing dissolution, indicating that the vulnerability of low self-esteem may be less than assumed.