The Association of Self-Esteem With Health and Well-Being: A Quantitative Synthesis of 40 Meta-Analyses

Abstract

Prior meta-analyses have examined the association between self-esteem and a variety of specific outcomes. Here we aggregated data across 40 unique meta-analyses, which collectively included more than 2,000 studies and 1 million participants to examine the cross-sectional association between self-esteem and overall health/well-being. Results indicated that self-esteem has a robust overall association with health/well-being ( r = .31). Moderator analyses indicated that self-esteem associations are consistent across regions, self-esteem scales, and research designs (correlational, case/control), robust across objective and subjective outcomes, and similar to the associations of other established predictors (locus of control, neuroticism, social support). However, self-esteem associations were smaller in child/adolescent samples ( r = .23) and in studies examining physical health ( r = .15) as opposed to mental health ( r = .42) or psychological adjustment ( r = .29). As the first to estimate its overall association with health/well-being, this report should stimulate theoretical integration on the potential benefits of self-esteem.