Self-differentiation and self-esteem: the mediating effect of resilience and the moderated mediating effect of musical functioning

The purpose of this study is to explore the variables that contribute to an individual's psychological wellness and to empirically test the relationship between self-differentiation, self-esteem, resilience, and musical functioning.The hypotheses propose that: (1)self-differentiation predicts self-esteem; (2)resilience mediates the relationship between self-differentiation and self-esteem; (3)musical functioning moderates the relationship between self-differentiation and resilience; and (4)the indirect effect of self-differentiation on self-esteem via resilience is moderated by musical functioning.To test these hypotheses, a self-report survey was administered to 531 adult males and females enrolled in a cyber university, descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were performed using SPSS, and mediation and moderation effects were tested using Hayes' bootstrap analysis.The results showed that self-differentiation had a positive effect on self-esteem, and resilience mediated this relationship.In addition, music functioning moderated the relationship between self-differentiation and resilience, strengthening the effect.