Original Article
Investigating the Link Between Liking Versus Wanting Self-Esteem and Depression in a Nationally Representative Sample of American Adults
Brad J. Bushman,
Scott J. Moeller, Sara Konrath, Jennifer Crocker,
Corresponding Author
Brad J. Bushman
The Ohio State University
VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brad J. Bushman, School of Communication, The Ohio State University, 3127 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1339. Email: [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorBrad J. Bushman,
Scott J. Moeller, Sara Konrath, Jennifer Crocker,
Corresponding Author
Brad J. Bushman
The Ohio State University
VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brad J. Bushman, School of Communication, The Ohio State University, 3127 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1339. Email: [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The self-esteem movement has been around since the 1970s, and may have influenced how much value people place on self-esteem. We predicted a negative relationship between age and the amount of value placed on self-esteem boosts. We also investigated the correlates of liking versus wanting self-esteem boosts (and other pleasant rewards) on depression. A nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 867) indicated how much they liked and wanted several pleasant rewards (i.e., sex, food, alcohol, money, friendship, self-esteem boost). They also completed a standardized measure of depressive symptoms. As expected, there was a negative relationship between age and valuing self-esteem boosts, sex, and alcohol. People with depressive symptoms wanted self-esteem boosts, even though they did not like them very much. Similar effects were obtained for depressive symptoms and alcohol and friendship. This is the first research to show that self-esteem boosts are more valued among a nationally representative sample of younger American adults. It also is the first research to explore the association between depression and the motivation to boost self-esteem. People with depressive symptoms want self-esteem, and may pursue it, but this pursuit may feel unrewarding because they do not derive pleasure from it.
References
- Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
- American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health disorders ( 4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
-
Bani, M. (2011). The use and frequency of verbal and non-verbal praise in nurture groups. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 16, 47–67.
10.1080/13632752.2011.545640 Google Scholar
- Beck, A. T. (1972). Depression: Causes and treatment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Beck, T., & Steer, A. (1987). Beck Depression Inventory manual. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
- Branden, N. (1969). The psychology of self-esteem. New York: Bantam.
- Branden, N. (1984, August–September). In defense of self. Association for Humanistic Psychology, 12–13.
- Bushman, B. J., Moeller, S. J., & Crocker, J. (2011). Sweets, sex, or self-esteem? Comparing the value of self-esteem boosts with other pleasant rewards. Journal of Personality, 79, 993–1012.
- Cambron, M., & Citelli, L. K. (2010). Examining the link between friendship contingent self-esteem and the self-propagating cycle of depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 701–726.
- Carney, R. N. (1991). The “Lake Wobegon effect”: Implications for the assessment of exceptional children. Journal of School Psychology, 29, 183–186.
- Coatsworth, J. D., & Conroy, D. E. (2009). The effects of autonomy-supportive coaching, need satisfaction, and self-perceptions on initiative and identity in youth swimmers. Developmental Psychology, 45, 320–328.
- College Board. (1976–1977). Student Descriptive Questionnaire. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
- Dykman, B. M. (1998). Integrating cognitive and motivational factors in depression: Initial tests of a goal-orientation approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 139–158.
- Fergusson, D. M., Boden, J. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2009). Tests of causal links between alcohol abuse or dependence and major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66, 260–266.
- Gentile, B., Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Birth cohort differences in self-esteem, 1988–2008: A cross-temporal meta-analysis. Review of General Psychology, 14, 261–268.
- Goldstein, R. Z., Woicik, P. A., Moeller, S. J., Telang, F., Jayne, M., Wong, C., et al. (2010). Liking and wanting of drug and non-drug rewards in active cocaine users: The STRAP-R Questionnaire. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 24, 257–266.
- Heilig, M., Egli, M., Crabbe, J. C., & Becker, H. C. (2009). Acute withdrawal, protracted abstinence and negative affect in alcoholism: Are they linked? Addiction Biology, 15, 169–184.
- Henriques, J. B., & Davidson, R. J. (2000). Decreased responsiveness to reward in depression. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 711–724.
- Joiner, T. E., Jr., Metalsky, G. I., Katz, J., & Beach, S. R. H. (1999). Depression and excessive reassurance-seeking. Psychological Inquiry, 10, 269–278.
- Konrath, S., & Anderson, P. (2012). A century of self-esteem. In S. De Wals & K. Meszaros (Eds.), Handbook on psychology of self-esteem (pp. 157–174). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.
-
Patterson, B. R., & Bettini, L. M. (1993). Age, depression, and friendship: Development of a general friendship inventory. Communication Research Reports, 10, 161–170.
10.1080/08824099309359929 Google Scholar
- Potts, M. K. (1997). Social support and depression among older adults living alone: The importance of friends within and outside of a retirement community. Social Work, 42, 348–362.
-
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401.
10.1177/014662167700100306 Google Scholar
- Roberts, J. E., Kassel, J. D., & Gotlib, I. H. (1995). Level and stability of self-esteem as predictors of depressive symptoms. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 217–224.
- Robinson, J., Sareen, J., Cox, B. J., & Bolton, J. (2009). Self-medication of anxiety disorders with alcohol and drugs: Results from a nationally representative sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 38–45.
- Robinson, T. E., & Berridge, K. C. (2003). Addiction. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 25–53.
- Rottenberg, J., Kasch, K. L., Gross, J. J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2002). Sadness and amusement reactivity differentially predict concurrent and prospective functioning in major depressive disorder. Emotion, 2, 135–146.
- Sargent, J., & Crocker, J. (2006). Contingencies of self-worth and symptoms of depression in college students. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 628–646.
- Sherdell, L., Waugh, C. E., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012). Anticipatory pleasure predicts motivation for reward in major depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121, 51–60.
- Stout, M. (2000). The feel-good curriculum: The dumbing down of America's kids in the name of self-esteem. New York: Perseus Books.
- Svenson, O. (1981). Are we all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers? Acta Psychologia, 47(2), 143–148.
- Syed, M., & Juan, M. J. D. (2011). Discrimination and psychological distress: Examining the moderating role of social context in a nationally representative sample of Asian American adults. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 3, 104–120.
- Tomlinson, K. L., Tate, S. T., Anderson, K. G., McCarthy, D. M., & Brown, S. A. (2006). An examination of self-medication and rebound effects: Psychiatric symptomatology before and after alcohol or drug relapse. Addictive Behaviors, 31, 461–474
- Treadway, M. T., & Zald, D. H. (2011). Reconsidering anhedonia in depression: Lessons from translational neuroscience. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 537–555.
- Twenge, J. M. (2006). Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled–And more miserable than ever before. New York: Free Press.
- Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2002). Self-esteem and socioeconomic status: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 59–71.
- Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, S. M. (2008). Generational differences in psychological traits and their impact on the workplace. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23, 862–877.
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). Statistical abstract of the United States: 2011 ( 130th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
- Waugh, C. E., & Gotlib, I. H. (2008). Motivation for reward as a function of required effort: Dissociating the “liking” from the “wanting” system in humans. Motivation and Emotion, 32, 323–330.
