Feeling Me in the World of We: Loneliness and Self-Esteem Across Time

How does individuals’ subjective evaluation of their social world (i.e., loneliness) relate to their evaluation of their inner world (i.e., self-esteem)? Existing longitudinal evidence has yielded mixed conclusions regarding both the direction and magnitude of the association between loneliness and self-esteem, because prior studies have often conflated stable between-person differences with within-person changes and relied on fixed but heterogeneous measurement intervals. In this preregistered study, we used continuous-time random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) to disentangle within-person changes from stable between-person differences and to examine how prospective effects unfold across time. Analyses were based on 17 annual waves of data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies of the Social Sciences (LISS) panel (N = 19,841). Results revealed reciprocal within-person associations between loneliness and self-esteem that strengthened gradually, peaked at approximately two years, and dissipated over longer intervals. However, increases in loneliness predicted subsequent decreases in self-esteem (scar effect) more strongly than decreases in self-esteem predicted later increases in loneliness (vulnerability effect). This pattern was robust across global, emotional, and social loneliness. Moderator analyses suggested that the scar effect was relatively robust across contexts, whereas the vulnerability effect was more context-dependent, particularly with respect to relational embeddedness and social opportunity particularly with respect to relational embeddedness and social opportunity. Together, these findings highlight loneliness as a particularly consequential driver of change in self-esteem and underscore the value of integrating within-person perspectives with continuous-time modeling in personality and social psychology.