Do depressive symptoms erode self-esteem in early adolescence?

Golan Shahar, Christopher C. Henrich

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

We hypothesized that in early-but not mid or late-adolescence, self-esteem is malleable (i.e., rank-order instable) and is particularly susceptible to the effect of depressive symptoms. Results of a latent variable, cross-lagged, structural equation modeling analysis of data from the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; N=4520) were consistent with the two hypotheses. Findings highlight the need to utilize a developmental framework when examining the effect of depression on self-esteem, and allude to the potentially deleterious effect of depression vis-à-vis self-development during early adolescence.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)403-415
Number of pages13
JournalSelf and Identity
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Sep 2010

Keywords

  • Depressive symptoms
  • Early adolescence
  • Scar hypothesis
  • Self-esteem
  • Structural equation modeling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Do depressive symptoms erode self-esteem in early adolescence?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this