title: Self-esteem reconsidered: unstable self-esteem outperforms level of self-esteem as vulnerability marker for depression.
abstract: Previous studies have built up evidence that an unstable self-esteem is associated with vulnerability to depression and that it outperforms level of self-esteem as a predictor for symptoms of depression. However, most of these studies have used student samples exclusively to investigate the role of self-esteem instability in depression vulnerability. Our present study used samples of currently depressed inpatients, formerly depressed individuals, and never-depressed controls to investigate the relationship between self-esteem instability and depression. In addition, we examined the predictive validity of self-esteem instability in predicting future depressive symptoms. The results indicate that self-esteem instability is associated with depression and vulnerability to depression. Furthermore, self-esteem instability interacted with perceived stress variability and depressed mood variability in predicting future depressive symptomatology at six months follow-up. These results are in line with the diathesis-stress model and support the hypothesis that self-esteem instability might be more important than level of self-esteem in predicting vulnerability to depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Erik.Franck@UGent.be
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franck
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Raedt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology