Relation of depressive symptoms to the structure of self-knowledge in childhood.
Measures of positive, negative, and total self-complexity (or self-concept differentiation), self-compartmentalization, self-reported negative events, and self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder were completed by 4th-, 6th-, and 8th-grade public school students. Measures of self-complexity and self-compartmentalization related positively to depression. Results were consistent across grade level. Controlling for anxiety and conduct disorder did not attenuate these effects. Results for positive and negative self-complexity were essentially equivalent to those for total self-complexity. Interactions between self-complexity and negative event and between self-compartmentalization and differential importance were not significant. The authors propose that self-complexity in childhood constitutes a response to negative self-relevant information sometimes conveyed by negative events. The authors conjecture that self-complexity does not buffer the impact of negative events in childhood but may serve as a buffer later in life.
Jordan
A
A
Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
Cole
D A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept