Self‐Esteem, Negative Emotionality, and Depression as a Common Temperamental Core: A Study of Mid‐Adolescent Twin Girls

Abstract

We tested the structure and magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on the overlap among self-esteem, negative emotionality, and major depression symptoms in adolescent girls (N = 706) from the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Genetic and environmental influences on all three operated via a general, heritable factor. Genetic influences explained the majority of overlap among the three constructs, as well as most of the variance in self-esteem and negative emotionality. Genetic influences on depression were more modest, and largely due to genetic factors specific to depression. These findings support the theory that self-esteem, depression, and neuroticism represent aspects of a common temperamental core. The interrelations among the three constructs in mid-adolescence is consistent with their interrelations in adulthood.

Optimism and Psychological Resilience in relation to Depressive Symptoms in University Students: Examining the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

“…A negative directional relationship has been reported between optimism and depression in many studies (e.g. Devine et al, 2000;Hudson, Elek, & CampbellGrossman, 2000;Neiss, Stevenson, Legrand, Iacono, & Sedikides 2009). That is to say, depressive symptoms may be seen more frequently in individuals who are not optimistic.…”

Executive Functions, Depressive Symptoms, and College Adjustment in Women

“…While some researchers believe that depression and low self-esteem reflect the same underlying temperamental core (Neiss, Stevenson, Legrand, Iacono, & Sedikidies, 2009), the two concepts also overlap in their relation to metacognition and treatment for depression, as better metacognitive abilities may be a prerequisite for individuals to successfully engage in therapy for depression (Fennell, 2004).…”

Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem in Current, Remitted, Recovered, and Comorbid Depression and Anxiety Disorders: The NESDA Study

“…Some argue that depression and self-esteem have overlapping causal factors, which may explain some of the shared variance. For example, Neiss et al [51] concluded that there was a common genetic and environmental influence on self-esteem, negative emotionality and depression, based on stronger associations in monozygotic twins, compared to dizygotic twins. In the present study, although self-esteem in current MDD and current AD was similarly low, the correlation between symptoms of depression and anxiety remained high when partialling out ESE.…”