Relations of self-discrepancies with depression and anxiety in adolescents: The role of parents’ and peers’ expectations

Abstract

This research aimed to explore relations between self-discrepancies, particularly in the actual and ought self, on one side, and depression and social anxiety on the other. The inconsistency in findings in existing studies is speculated to arise from variations in the definition of the ought self, which represents expectations of significant others about who we should be, with the term significant others not being defined. The results of research conducted on 543 high school students showed that all discrepancies are positively correlated with depression and social anxiety, and negatively with two dimensions of self-esteem: self-competence and self-liking. The findings indicate that all self-discrepancies serve as significant predictors of depression, with the discrepancy in the actual-ideal self and the actual-ought self by parents demonstrating a stronger predictive power than the discrepancy between the actual and ought self by peers. With regards to social anxiety, the discrepancy between actual and ought self by peers is a more influential determinant than the discrepancy between the actual and ought self by parents. It was also found that the discrepancy between the actual and ideal self is more significant than the expected discrepancy in the actual and ought self by peers in the prediction of social anxiety. Data on self-competence showed it was a mediating variable in the correlation between discrepancy in actual-ought self by parents, as well as actual and ideal self, and depression. Finally, self-liking appeared to be a mediating variable in the correlation between the actual-ideal discrepancy and social anxiety.