Longitudinal, Reciprocal Associations Between Social Self-Evaluation and Depressive Symptoms Across the Second Decade of Life
Abstract
Background: A key developmental task in adolescence is social self-concept development. Adolescence is also a period of heightened risk for internalizing psychopathology, particularly depression. While prior research has found links between self-processing and depression, social self-concept remains understudied and the causal direction of these associations remains unclear. Methods: Data come from a longitudinal study of adolescent girls (N = 172, aged 10-13 at baseline, ~18-month inter-wave intervals). Results: We show that negative social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms display longitudinal, reciprocal associations across four waves of data spanning early to late adolescence. Additionally, while self-negativity increased over time, self-positivity did not change, and both aspects of self-perception were independently associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms mutually influence each other across adolescence, and that negative social self-evaluation may be a useful intervention target for preventing and treating depressive psychopathology among adolescents.
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BibTeX
@misc{williamson2026longitudinal,
title = {{Longitudinal, Reciprocal Associations Between Social Self-Evaluation and Depressive Symptoms Across the Second Decade of Life}},
author = {Victoria Guazzelli Williamson and Samantha Chavez and John Flournoy and Nick Allen and Jennifer Pfeifer},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/y6r2a_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/y6r2a_v2/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Longitudinal, Reciprocal Associations Between Social Self-Evaluation and Depressive Symptoms Across the Second Decade of Life
AU - Victoria Guazzelli Williamson
AU - Samantha Chavez
AU - John Flournoy
AU - Nick Allen
AU - Jennifer Pfeifer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/y6r2a_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/y6r2a_v2/
AB - Background: A key developmental task in adolescence is social self-concept development. Adolescence is also a period of heightened risk for internalizing psychopathology, particularly depression. While prior research has found links between self-processing and depression, social self-concept remains understudied and the causal direction of these associations remains unclear. Methods: Data come from a longitudinal study of adolescent girls (N = 172, aged 10-13 at baseline, ~18-month inter-wave intervals). Results: We show that negative social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms display longitudinal, reciprocal associations across four waves of data spanning early to late adolescence. Additionally, while self-negativity increased over time, self-positivity did not change, and both aspects of self-perception were independently associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms mutually influence each other across adolescence, and that negative social self-evaluation may be a useful intervention target for preventing and treating depressive psychopathology among adolescents.
ER -