How Does the Quiet Ego Relate to Happiness? A Path Model Investigation of the Relations Between the Quiet Ego, Self-Concept Clarity, and Well-Being

The quiet ego refers to a self-construal that is balanced and growth-oriented in its stance toward the self and others. It is conceptualized as representing the intersection of four characteristics: inclusive identity, perspective taking, detached awareness, and growth-mindedness. As a relatively new construct, the quiet ego has been validated in domains relating to balance, compassion, and growth. However, its construct validity has rarely been examined with regard to other aspects of self-identity that are both conceptually similar and have implications for well-being. Building on existing work on the quiet ego and self-concept clarity, we first examined the quiet ego’s theoretical relation with self-concept clarity (Study 1, N = 1099) using a confirmatory factor analysis approach and then investigated its associations with psychological well-being and self-esteem from the perspective of self-concept clarity using path modeling (Study 2, pre-registered, N = 500). We found that the quiet ego was positively associated with self-concept clarity and that the quiet ego predicted psychological well-being and self-esteem indirectly via its association with self-concept clarity.