Journal
JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 118, Issue 3, Pages 472-478Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/a0015922
Keywords
self-esteem; depression; age differences; life span
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [AG-022057] Funding Source: Medline
- NIDA NIH HHS [R01 DA017902] Funding Source: Medline
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Data from two large longitudinal studies were used to analyze reciprocal relations between self-esteem and depressive symptoms across the adult life span. Study I included 1,685 participants aged 18 to 96 years assessed 4 times over a 9-year period. Study 2 included 2,479 participants aged 18 to 88 years assessed 3 times over a 4-year period. In both studies, cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem predicted subsequent depressive symptoms, but depressive symptoms did not predict subsequent levels of self-esteem. This pattern of results replicated across all age groups, for both affective-cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression, and after controlling for content overlap between the self-esteem and depression scales. The results suggest that low self-esteem operates as a risk factor for depressive symptoms at all phases of the adult life span.
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