Self-Esteem and Self-Compassion: A Narrative Review and Meta-Analysis on Their Links to Psychological Problems and Well-Being

Figures & data

Table 1 Results of the Meta-Analysis of Studies on the Relation Between Self-Esteem (SE) and Self-Compassion (SC) and the Relations Between Both Self-Related Constructs and Indices of Well-Being and Psychological Problems

	k	N	Average r	Effect Size r	95% CI	p	Heterogeneity Q^†
SE – SC	76	35,537	0.60	0.71	0.56, 0.86	< 0.001	1145.48
SE – Well-being	45	20,661	0.39	0.45	0.31, 0.59	< 0.001	1594.19
SC – Well-being	45	20,661	0.36	0.40	0.26, 0.55	< 0.001	967.20
SE – Psychological problems	69	27,909	−0.43	−0.49	−0.34, −0.65	< 0.001	2090.34
SC – Psychological problems	69	27,909	−0.41	−0.46	−0.30, −0.61	< 0.001	1300.97
SE – Well-being (controlled for SC)	45	20,661	0.24	0.26	0.12, 0.40	< 0.001	622.30
SC – Well-being (controlled for SE)	45	20,661	0.18	0.19	0.05, 0.33	< 0.001	266.73
SE – Psychological problems (controlled for SC)	69	27,909	−0.26	−0.30	−0.14, −0.45	< 0.001	10,920.07
SC – Psychological problems (controlled for SE)	69	27,909	−0.22	−0.24	−0.03, −0.39	< 0.001	7319.35

Notes: ^†Heterogeneity was evaluated by means of the open-source software package Jamovi (https://www.jamovi.org). The Q-statistic was significant for all analyses, indicating that the results were heterogeneous across studies.

Figure 1 PRISMA flow diagram depicting the selection of articles that were included in the meta-analysis on self-esteem, self-compassion, and psychological problems/well-being.

Figure 2 Funnel plot of the studies reporting on the correlation between self-esteem and self-compassion.

Figure 3 Average effect sizes (r) found for the (partial) relations between self-compassion and self-esteem, on the one hand, and indices of well-being and psychological problems, on the other hand.

Figure 4 Model depicting the presumed role of self-esteem and self-compassion in resilience and well-being.