Heppner, W. L., Kernis, M. H., Nezlek, J. B., Foster, J., Lakey, C. E., & Goldman, B. M. (2008). Within-person relationships between daily self-esteem, need satisfaction, and authenticity. Psychological Science, 19, 1140-1145. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02204.x

TThe current study examined the within-person relationships between daily self-esteem and felt authenticity (i.e., the operation of one's "true self"), autonomy, competence, and relatedness (i.e., psychological needs). We also included measures of affect to control for the variance these constructs might share with affect. One hundred and sixteen participants provided daily responses over a two-week period. Multi-level random coefficients modeling revealed that authenticity, autonomy, competence, and relatedness all positively and significantly related to daily reports of self-esteem, even while controlling for the contributions of other predictors and pleasant and unpleasant affect. Discussion centers on the roles of authenticity and psychological needs for daily feelings of self-worth.