SELF-ESTEEM DURING EMERGING ADULTHOOD 13 during the first semester cannot be easily explained by more maturation al change msgcfaearehnPanamaio,664-65tl010u6ip20n stud ,M.B.Trzesniewski.K.H.Robins.R.W..Moffitt T.E.& ned self-esteem change in a group of e rging adults who fo 0% tic relationships,whereas others remained single.and so on.Con C.A.Miller.C.(199).Self ). .Wigfield,A.Midgley.C.&Reuma of these structural transitions.Research using a al d college students would help disentangle these experiences and K.(1998).Narc n addition. the current research could be extended to stud a.6.6-8.d 06 ry co If claims of so shift b).the ,M.E.(2002).An ry study of points (b)sho a greater self-esteem regulated lear ng S D P more likely to say they have of the Big-Fiv ive.doting parents.and ()be Review of Educational Research 52122-14 References (Ed)c hel (PE niversity Pres R0279-29610023A h.D.A..S .D.(1978).The sition into earl B.D.(1987)The .149-162dot:10.23072126l 8123-124 and selfc A.Ro .B.W.(2001).Target article:Person 6.dot:10.1207S15327965P2 0 ndividual Y.John.O.P.Kenny.D ond.M Robins.R.W Psychological Review..94-110 e(7 Age and se amen,R.K.(2003)Leve of self-es 0022-06 Trzes .H.Lucas.g.E. fhaionisengyofgiobalscli-eecmfomadbliescencetoadhhood Marsh.H.W..during the first semester cannot be easily explained by more gradual maturational or social-contextual changes. A recent study provides some insight into this issue. Wagner et al. (2013) exam￾ined self-esteem change in a group of emerging adults who fol￾lowed varying life paths, some went to college, whereas others obtained full-time employment, and some began long-term roman￾tic relationships, whereas others remained single, and so on. Con￾sistent with the present findings, they found a gradual increase in self-esteem from age 19 to 25. This trend held regardless of whether participants attended college. However, they did not as￾sess self-esteem repeatedly during and immediately following each of these structural transitions. Research using a more intensive longitudinal design with frequent assessments of self-esteem in a sample of college students and an age-matched sample of non￾college students would help disentangle these experiences and provide insights into the specific role that the college experience plays. In addition, the current research could be extended to study generational changes. The present study consisted of participants who were college aged in 1996. The study could be repeated with contemporary college students. If claims of societal shifts are correct (e.g., Twenge, 2006), then we would expect that today’s college students would (a) have higher mean-levels of self-esteem at all time points, (b) show a greater self-esteem decline and smaller rebound because they are unprepared for the harsher grading practices of college and separation from their overprotec￾tive, doting parents, and (c) be more likely to say they have changed for the better across the college years. References Arnett, J. J. (2011). Emerging adulthood(s): The cultural psychology of a new life stage. In L. A. Jensen (Ed.), Bridging cultural and develop￾mental psychology: New syntheses in theory, research and policy (pp. 255–275). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Beyer, S. (1999). 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