ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2015, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (9): 1499-1507.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.01499

• Meta-Analysis • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Self-esteem and Mental Health: the Sample of Chinese College Students

GAO Shuang; ZHANG Xiangkui; XU Xiaolin   

  1. (Department of Psychology, School of Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China)
  • Received:2014-10-24 Online:2015-09-15 Published:2015-09-15
  • Contact: ZHANG Xiangkui, E-mail: zhangxk@nenu.edu.cn

Abstract:

A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and mental health of Chinese college students.Analysis of 30 studies (N = 14673) met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The result of meta-analysis showed : self-esteem had medium negative correlation to the factors of SCL-90, and self-esteem had significant effect on mental health. There was a higher significant correlation between self-esteem and depression, anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity. moderator analyses revealed that geographical distribution have significant moderating effects on these relationship between self-esteem and the factors of SCL-90. The results suggest that self-esteem is an important influencing factor to mental health.In particular, self-esteem is also predictive significantly to depression, anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity of mental health.

Key words: self-esteem, mental health, meta-analysis, moderator effect