Don’t Worry About Being You: Relations Between Perceived Authenticity and Mental Health are Due to Self-Esteem and Executive Functioning

Numerous studies show that perceived authenticity is a reliable predictor of mental health outcomes. To expand on these studies, we examined whether such relations could be due to perceived authenticity’s confounding with both self-esteem and executive functioning. A representative sample of US participants ( N = 446; M age = 46.10; 51.1% female; 78.0% White) completed measures of perceived authenticity, self-esteem, executive functioning, and various indicators of mental health (e.g., subjective wellbeing, depression). At the bivariate level, perceived authenticity had a positive, large correlation with a mental health composite. However, after controlling for self-esteem and executive functioning, this relationship became nonsignificant and trivial in size. The findings extend basic understanding of how self-relevant constructs contribute to mental health and suggest advice for individuals looking to capitalize on evidence linking perceived authenticity to mental health benefits: Build a strong base of self-worth and exercise agency.