In everyday life, we are often encouraged to be confident, but not cocky. High self-esteem can be taken as either, leading to debate among the general public and research communities about if self-esteem is beneficial or detrimental. A study published in American Psychologist attempts to answer this long-running question by running a meta-analysis of previous research on the subject.
Self-esteem is a highly studied variable, and yet debate remains rampant around its benefits. It has been described as advantageous for forming social relationships and being successful in vocational and educational endeavors. Alternatively, other studies have found these effects to be weak. Self-esteem has been largely measured by self-report, as it is a subjective construct. This study sought to understand the body of research on self-esteem and use it to draw conclusions.
Researchers Ulrich Orth and Richard W. Robins conducted a meta-analysis of existing research on self-esteem. They separated the studies into social relationships, school, work, mental health, physical health, and antisocial behavior. They also looked at causality, generalizability, and effect sizes, in addition to looking into the difference between high self-esteem and narcissism.
Results showed overwhelming support for the benefits of high self-esteem. Self-esteem was positively related to having satisfying social relationships, success in school and work, improvements in physical and mental health and was negatively related to antisocial behavior. These results were seen across different ethnic groups and different age groups and life stages. The positive effects of high self-esteem were shown not to be due to narcissism. Overall, high-self esteem was shown to be related with positive and adaptive outcomes.
This study used meta-analysis, which provides data from many studies, allowing overall trends in results to be studied and very large and diverse samples to be used. Despite this, meta-analysis has limitations. The meta-analysis is constrained by the data that already exists. Any issues with the original studies could persist in the meta-analysis.
“The present findings, based on several large meta-analyses and hundreds of individual studies, provide a robust challenge to widespread claims in the scientific literature and in the popular press that self-esteem has few benefits and might even have a ‘dark side.’ Instead, a voluminous body of research suggests that high self-esteem helps individuals adapt to and succeed in a variety of life domains, including having more satisfying relationships, performing better at school and work, enjoying improved mental and physical health, and refraining from antisocial behavior,” the researchers concluded.
“Moreover, these benefits hold across different stages of life, different racial and ethnic groups, and for both men and women. They also hold when controlling for prior levels of the predicted outcomes and potential third variable confounds, as well as when controlling for narcissism, suggesting that the effects are a result of genuine self-esteem and not narcissistic self-enhancement.”
The study, “Is High Self-Esteem Beneficial? Revisiting a Classic Question“, was authored by Ulrich Orth and Richard W. Robins.