Self-esteem as a factor predicting subjective well-being

Background. Subjective well-being has been widely studied as an important aspect of mental well-being in psychological research. The aim of this research is to study the relationship between self-esteem and general life satisfaction as the cognitive component of subjective well-being. Method. The respondents (N = 321) filled in a self-report questionnaire consisting of scales measuring demographic data, self-esteem and general life satisfaction – all part of a doctoral thesis research. Factor, correlation and regression analyses were performed to study and explain the relationship between the two variables. Results. The two-component scale measuring self-esteem was used for the first time on a Bulgarian sample of respondents and it proved to have a different factorial structure – consisting of four components (Negative attitude towards the self, Negative assessment of one’s achievements, Positive assessment of one’s competences, Positive self-evaluation). There was a strong positive correlation between one of them, namely positive self-evaluation, and general life satisfaction (r = .711**, p < 0.001). The regression coefficients proved that positive self-evaluation explains 50% of the variation in general satisfaction with life (adjusted R ²  = .504). Conclusions. In order to increase one’s general satisfaction with life, the cognitive aspect of subjective well-being, psychologists should work first on people’s self-image in the direction of helping people to start feeling more pleased with themselves. Another direction of increasing people’s psychological resources and improving their mental well-being is to let them view their life achievements as sufficient and meaningful.