What is Humility Good For? A Meta-Analysis of Humility,Health,and Well-Being

Abstract

Humility, the organizing virtue of multicultural frameworks in counseling psychology, has traditionally been framed to be positively associated with health and well-being and negatively associated with mental illness. Despite lauded benefits, however, scholars have cautioned that humility may not always be of benefit. To examine these associations, we conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the magnitude of the associations between humility and physical health, mental illness (i.e., depression, anxiety), life satisfaction, and eudaimonic well-being (i.e., meaning in life, purpose in life), in addition to testing moderators. The final sample included 65 studies, with results yielding small to medium associations (rs ranged from −.06 to .20) between humility and examined outcomes. Results suggest that the size and direction of associations depend on methodological choices and cultural contexts. Implications for studying the cultural context of humility are discussed.

Keywords

humility health well-being meta-analysis positive psychology multiculturalism

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