Self-discrepancies in clinically anxious and depressed university students

Neural Correlates of Distorted Self-concept in Individuals With Internet Gaming Disorder: A Functional MRI Study

Background and aims: Discrepancy between ideal self-guide and actual self-concept evoke dejection-related feeling, and often individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) use games as the tool to escape those negative emotions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of self-discrepancy based on actual and ideal self-images and elucidate the neural correlates underlying the distorted self in individuals with IGD. Methods: Nineteen male individuals with IGD and 20 healthy controls (HCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging where they decided on whether they agreed with the adjectives describing their actual or ideal self on a four-point Likert Scale. Two-sample t-test on the self-discrepancy contrast was conducted for neuroimaging analysis and correlation analysis was performed between the behavioral data and regional activities. Results: The IGD group evaluated both their ideal self and actual self more negatively than the HC group. Actual self-concept was associated with satisfaction with psychological needs as opposed to ideal self-guide. Brain activity in the inferior parietal lobule was significantly decreased in individuals with IGD relative to HCs in the self-discrepancy contrast. In addition, neural activity during evaluating actual self-concept showed a significant group difference. Conclusion: These results provide novel evidence for distorted self-concept of people with IGD. Individuals with IGD had a negative ideal and actual self-image. Neurobiologically, dysfunction in the inferior parietal lobule associated with emotional regulation and negative self-evaluation was found in IGD. Considering the characteristics of IGD that often develop in adolescence, this self-concept problem should be noted and applied with appropriate therapy.

Self-Discrepancy and Eating Disorder Symptoms Across Eating Disorder Diagnostic Groups

This study examined self-discrepancy, a construct of theoretical relevance to eating disorder (ED) psychopathology, across different types of EDs. Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 112), bulimia nervosa (BN; n = 72), and binge eating disorder (BED; n = 199) completed semi-structured interviews assessing specific types of self-discrepancies. Results revealed that actual:ideal (A:I) discrepancy was positively associated with AN, actual:ought (A:O) discrepancy was positively associated with BN and BED, and self-discrepancies did not differentiate BN from BED. Across diagnoses, A:O discrepancy was positively associated with severity of purging, binge eating, and global ED psychopathology. Further, there were significant interactions between diagnosis and A:O discrepancy for global ED psychopathology and between diagnosis and A:I discrepancy for binge eating and driven exercise. These results support the importance of self-discrepancy as a potential causal and maintenance variable in EDs that differentiates among different types of EDs and symptom severity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Possible Selves: Implications for Psychotherapy

The paper is devoted to the therapeutic applications of theories and research concerning self-regulation issues. The key concept here is possible selves, defined as an element of self-knowledge that refers to what a person perceives as potentially possible. The main idea of using knowledge about possible selves in psychotherapy is based on their functions as standards in self-regulatory processes. The problem of the changeability of possible selves and self-standards is analyzed in the context of their role in behavior change. The paper also presents the assumptions of Self-System Therapy – a newly developed cognitive therapy for depression, drawing directly on self-regulation theory and research.

What Stresses University Students: An Interview Investigation of the Demands of Tertiary Studies

Although several previous scales have been developed to measure the presence and effects of the stressful demands encountered by university students, most of these have been validated with samples drawn from US universities, commonly using only undergraduate psychology students. In addition, many of the items used are from scales designed for application within general adult populations, with little focus upon the specific stressors met by students. In order to identify what are the major changes these students encounter that they find stressful, a sample of 32 university students from different degree areas within an Australian university was individually interviewed using a standardised protocol. Results indicated that (unlike US data) these students found dislocation to family, friend and partner relationships most stressful, followed by the time demands of study and financial restrictions. Limitations of the study, future research directions and implications for counsellors are discussed.

Adolescent psychological and academic adjustment as a function of discrepancies between actual and ideal self-perceptions

Actual-ideal discrepancies are associated with adolescent emotional distress and there is evidence that the size of discrepancies matters. However, the direction of discrepancies has not been examined, perhaps due to limitations of widely used self-discrepancy measures. Two hundred and twelve 7th, 9th and 11th grade students (59% female) in a public school in Jamaica described their actual and ideal selves in several different domains--friendship, dating, schoolwork, family, sports, and religion/spirituality--using a Pie measure. Students also completed measures of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and academic achievement. Discrepancies favoring the ideal self and those favoring the actual self were linked to depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, and poor school grades in the domains of friendship, dating, and schoolwork. Effects were stronger among older adolescents than among younger adolescents. Theories of actual/ideal self-discrepancies have focused on problems arising when the ideal self overshadows the actual self; however, the present study finds that self-discrepancies, regardless of their direction, are a liability. Implications for self-discrepancy measurement, adolescent development, and clinical practice are discussed.

The motivational impact of temporal focus: thinking about the future and the past

In this chapter, we consider the degree to which individuals are pulled to behave by their conceptions of the future, pushed to act by their recollections of the past, or primarily driven by current exigencies. In examining conceptions of the future, we discuss how individuals bridge the present and the future, the origin of goals, their impact on behavior and cognition, and the motivational underpinnings for inferring other people's goals. We then outline four theoretical approaches to goal prioritization, the motivational impact of proximal vs distal goals, and the distinction between approaching positive vs avoiding negative outcomes. Turning to conceptions of the past, we discuss the motivational push of the past, the use of the past to select one's goals, the impact current goals have on recall and interpretations of the past, and individual differences in using the past. We conclude that temporal focus provides a meaningful framework for social cognitive approaches to motivation.