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Low self-worth and anger as components of the depressive experience in young adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Andrew G. Renouf  and
Susan Harter
Andrew G. Renouf
Affiliation:
University of Denver
Susan Harter*
Affiliation:
University of Denver
*
Address reprint requests to: Susan Harter, Department of Psychology, 2155 S. Race Street, Denver, CO 80208.
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Abstract

The present study sought to examine two issues related to the phenomenological experience of depression in a normative sample of young, middle-school adolescents. The first hypothesis was that self-reported depressed affect would be highly related to low global self-worth. The second hypothesis was that depression is experienced as a blend of sadness and anger, where anger can be directed toward either the self or others. The findings revealed a strong correlation (r = .81) between global self-worth and affect (along a continuum of cheerful to depressed). With regard to the second issue, depression is clearly experienced by adolescents as a blend of affects. Eighty percent reported that depression represents a mix of sadness and anger. In addition, the vast majority reported that the anger is directed toward others, either as the only target or in conjunction with anger toward the self. Findings also revealed that the primary causes of depression involve actions of others against the self, thereby making the anger component realistic. Discussion focused on the role of self-deprecatory ideation in depression and on the issue of the comorbidity of internalizing and externalizing symptoms manifest in depression.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , July 1990 , pp. 293 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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