Data for self-esteem, acute stress response, and chronic stress levels.

Personal self-esteem (PSE) has been well recognized as a buffer against stress, however, the other types of self-esteem, such as relational self-esteem (RSE) or collective self-esteem (CSE), has not been explored. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate their roles in reducing stress responses. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Relational Self-esteem Scale, and Collective Self-esteem Scale were adopted to assess PSE, RSE, and CSE, respectively. Acute stress response was assessed by subjective stress reports and salivary cortisol when participants underwent an acute social stress paradigm. Chronic stress level was estimated by the perceived stress scale and hair cortisol concentration. Results showed that during acute social stress, PSE was negatively correlated with salivary cortisol response, however, no significant associations were found between any types of self-esteem and subjective stress reports. For chronic stress, all types of self-esteem were negatively associated with perceived stress level, but not with hair cortisol concentration. Further regression analyses suggested that only PSE negatively predicts acute salivary cortisol response and perceived stress level when all three types of self-esteem were regressed together. Overall, these findings suggested an essential role of PSE in predicting acute salivary stress responses and perceived stress.