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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1530008
Take a Step Back to See Your Own Value: On the role of Metacognition in Self-esteem Regulation
Provisionally accepted- University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
When self-esteem is threatened (e.g., by social rejection), people regulate it through self-enhancement, self-protection, or self-affirmation. High self-esteem individuals use functional strategies like self-affirmation and self-enhancement, while those with low self-esteem rely more on self-protection strategies. This study explored whether decentering, a metacognitive process, aids in accessing resources and promoting functional self-esteem regulation.1,100 participants (age 18-65, 72% female) completed questionnaires online. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether decentering mediates the association between self-esteem and self-enhancement, self-affirmation and self-protection. Self-esteem positively predicted decentering, which promoted self-affirmation and self-enhancement. The decentering factor Accepting Self-perception positively predicted self-protection, while the Distanced Perspective factor reduced it. Decentering significantly mediated all three strategies.These findings suggest enhancing decentering could improve self-esteem regulation and inform therapeutic interventions. Strengthening accepting self-perception may help individuals with low self-esteem adopt protective strategies. Fostering a distanced perspective could further promote self-affirmation, leading to better mental health outcomes.
Keywords: self-esteem, decentering, self-affirmation, Self-protection, self-enhancement
Received: 18 Nov 2024; Accepted: 27 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rader, Forster, Gauggel, Drüke and Mainz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lena Rader, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
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