Self-affirmations, in which people think about their core values, identity and positive traits, remind people of their inner strengths and counterbalance self-defeating thoughts. They can help people quit smoking, for example, or face the stress of inequities and disadvantages.

One of the ways self-affirmations do this is by improving people's sense of general well-being. “Even brief, low cost self-affirmation exercises can yield significant psychological benefits in terms of enhancing social and personal well-being,” Minhong (Maggie) Wang, a coauthor of a new study by researchers from the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University, told TheDoctor. These benefits are immediate and long-lasting, she added.

Self-affirmations can be done in different ways and usually fall into two main categories: value affirmations and attribute affirmations. Both work.

The researchers analyzed data from 129 studies with more than 17,700 participants — ages 12 to 72 — from the U.S., Europe, Asia and other countries. A majority of the studies included college students.

To be included in the analysis, each study had to have a stand-alone self-affirmation exercise that could not be part of a larger intervention.

The studies also had to have at least one outcome related to well-being. These outcomes were grouped into four categories: general well-being and life satisfaction; a sense of community, belonging and social well-being; positive self-perception and a sense of self-worth; and a reduction in negative feelings, such as anxiety or a depressed or low mood.

Overall, the analysis showed that self-affirmations increased people's sense of general well-being, social well-being and perceptions of self-worth. They also improved mood and reduced anxiety. Best of all, these improvements lasted through the follow-up period, an average of almost two weeks for all the studies.

The benefits of self-affirmations were seen among age groups and across all countries. They had a stronger effect on self-perception among adults than adolescents. They also had the biggest effect on general well-being of American participants.

Self-affirmations can be done in different ways and usually fall into two main categories: value affirmations and attribute affirmations. Both work for teens and adults.

Value affirmations look at personal values such as relationships with family and friends and willingness to help others. Exercises used to arrive at value affirmations often involve ranking one's values and writing about why the top-ranked value is important.

Self-affirmations improved people's sense of general well-being, social well-being and perceptions of self-worth. They also reduced anxiety.

Attribute affirmations focus on positive traits such as kindness and honesty and personal strengths like creativity. According to Wang, attribute affirmations are less common, and kindness is the most frequently affirmed personal trait.

Wang offered the following tips for developing a meaningful self-affirmations practice:

  • Less may be more. The quality of reflection may be more important than frequency. An occasional, meaningful practice may be the most beneficial.
  • Make it personal and private. Think about why an affirmation is meaningful for you. How does it influence daily life?
  • Don't wait for tough times. Begin self-affirmations during periods of low stress.

Most studies on self-affirmations have enrolled U.S. college students, so future studies could look at the benefits of self-affirmations in adolescents and adults, as well as people in other countries. Wang, a professor of education at the University of Hong Kong, put it this way: “Expanding the scope of the study to include multicultural groups would help clarify how applicable self-affirmations are to different populations.”

The study is published in American Psychologist.