Self-discrepancies and negative affect: A primer on when to look for specificity, and how to find it

Exploring the roles of human values and self-discrepancies in postnatal depression in first-time mothers

OBJECTIVES

Postnatal depression is the most prevalent psychopathology experienced within the perinatal period and has been associated with a range of adverse outcomes for both mother and infant. In the present research, we combine two influential theories, Schwartz's theory of human values and Higgins' self-discrepancy theory (SDT), to test new hypotheses about postnatal depression.

METHODS

We recruited 80 first-time mothers who had given birth within the last 6 months and who self-reported experiencing low mood or postnatal depression. Participants anonymously completed measures of postnatal depression, value importance, self-discrepancies, and subjective value fulfillment.

RESULTS

Contrary to our hypotheses, actual-ought self-discrepancies, but not actual-ideal self-discrepancies, predicted postnatal depression. Interestingly however, self-discrepancies were negatively correlated with value fulfillment. The findings within this study diverge from the relation predicted within SDT and highlight how motherhood may represent a unique circumstance, in which the "ideal self" has evolved to become a self that one feels morally obligated to embody. Further exploratory analyses revealed that depression was predicted by the difference between value fulfillment and value importance in conservation values, but not by differences between value fulfillment and value importance regarding any of the other value types.

DISCUSSION

We discuss potential impact on discourses around motherhood, alongside clinical implications for practitioners who work with mothers during the perinatal period.

The relationship between loneliness and problematic smartphone use among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of negative emotions and maladaptive coping

INTRODUCTION

Given the observed increased feelings of loneliness and problematic smartphone use among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, further research was needed to determine whether and how the increased loneliness of adolescents during such major public health crisis events affects the risk of problematic smartphone use among adolescents. This study aimed to examine the relationship between loneliness and problematic smartphone use among Chinese adolescents (aged 10-16 years) during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate the possible mediating role of negative emotions and maladaptive coping.

METHODS

A total of 672 Chinese adolescents (Mage  = 13.05, SD = 1.51, 50.4% boys, 93.8% from rural areas, 22.5% of whom were only children) took part in this cross-sectional study in April 2022 by completing the Chinese adolescent version of the Loneliness Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (subscale), the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Index Scale.

RESULTS

The serial mediation model revealed that negative emotions and maladaptive coping independently mediated the relationship between adolescents' loneliness and problematic smartphone use. In addition, the mediation effects of "negative emotions-maladaptive coping" could also mediate the relationship between loneliness and problematic smartphone use.

CONCLUSIONS

Loneliness may be positively related to problematic smartphone use through negative emotions and maladaptive coping among adolescents during major public health crisis events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The differential roles of shame and guilt in the relationship between self-discrepancy and psychological maladjustment

The self-discrepancy theory proposes that having inconsistent self-representations can trigger feelings of shame and guilt, leading to experiences of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to determine the distinct characteristics of each shame and guilt in relation to the connection between actual/ideal self-discrepancy and depression, as well as actual/ought self-discrepancy and anxiety. A total of 403 participants completed an online questionnaire assessing their self-discrepancy, shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety. Correlational analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis were used to assess the goodness of fit of the proposed model and the structural relationships between the variables. The key findings were as follows: (1) There were positive correlations among actual/ideal self-discrepancy, actual/ought self-discrepancy, shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety; (2) Shame partially mediated the association between actual/ideal self-discrepancy and depression; and (3) Guilt fully mediated the association between actual/ought self-discrepancy and anxiety. These outcomes uphold the self-discrepancy theory by confirming a distinct intra-psychological process involving shame and guilt. Each type of self-discrepancy was related to experiences of depression and anxiety. Our data suggest that researchers and practitioners should prioritize shame and guilt when examining individuals' self-discrepancy and related mental health challenges.

Agitation and despair in relation to parents: activating emotional suffering in transference

Affect and motivation are known to arise in the social‐cognitive process transference, which occurs when a new person minimally resembles a significant other, implicitly activating the mental representation of this significant other (Andersen, Reznik, & Manzella, 1996) and indirectly, the relational self (i.e. Andersen & Chen, 2002). Triggering the significant‐other representation should also indirectly activate any self‐discrepancy held from this other's perspective, resulting in shifts in discrete affect and self‐regulation. Participants (n = 110; 34 men, 76 women) with an actual‐ideal or actual‐ought self‐discrepancy from their parent's perspective (Higgins, 1987) learned about a new person who did or did not minimally resemble this parent. As predicted, this evoked positive evaluation of the new person, that is, a positive transference, and yet, as a function of self‐discrepancy, also increased discrete negative mood with ideal‐discrepant individuals becoming more dejected and ought‐discrepant individuals more hostile and less calm. Self‐regulatory focus shifted as well in terms of motivation to avoid emotional closeness. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Computerized Implicit Representation Test: Construct and incremental validity

Discrepancies in mental representations between self-aspects and significant others are associated with depression, personality disorders, emotional reactivity, and interpersonal distress. The Computerized Implicit Representation Test (CIRT) is a novel measure developed to assess discrepancies in mental representations. Inpatient participants (N = 165) enrolled in a longitudinal study completed baseline CIRT ratings of similarity between self-aspects (actual-self, ideal-self, and ought-self) and between actual-self and significant others (mother, father, liked others, and disliked others). Based on the similarity ratings, multidimensional scaling was utilized to generate distances between key self- and other representations in three-dimensional space. Results of univariate linear regression analyses demonstrated that discrepancies (distances) between self-aspects, actual-self to others, and actual-self to mother were significantly associated with impulsive and self-destructive behaviors and/or lifetime anxiety disorders. Multivariate hierarchical linear regression models further indicated that three CIRT variables provided incremental validity above and beyond age, gender, and/or borderline personality disorder.

Las implicancias psicopatológicas de la acedia en Evagrio Póntico

La presente comunicación intenta poner de relieve la contribución de Evagrio Póntico en la comprensión etiológica de ese padecimiento tan cercano a la melancolía moderna y a la depresión contemporánea, que él conceptualizó y sistematizó por primera vez: la acedia. Se ponen en relación con su aporte algunos elementos de la noción freudiana de melancolía y de la teoría de la autodiscrepancia acerca de la depresión, principalmente en lo que se refiere al rol del ideal del yo en el dinamismo etiopatogénico. En este contexto se evidencia la importancia histórica de la contribución evagriana que se anticipa a diversos planteamientos muy posteriores de la psicología y la psicopatología, e integra en una perspectiva espiritual la comprensión etiológica de la perturbación psíquica y su posible terapia.

Motherhood: A Discrepancy Theory

Motherhood is a highly anticipated and positive event for most women. Society has constructed many ideal images of motherhood, giving women standards to live up to, and many times setting them up for disappointment. When this disappointment occurs, an emotional reaction follows, which may be fear, guilt, or shame. However, some women are able to experience this mismatch between an ideal and actual self and adapt with minimal emotional reaction. There was not a nursing theory that described this phenomenon. “Self-Discrepancy: A Theory Relating Self and Affect” (Higgins, 1987), from the psychology discipline provided concepts and definitions that could be used to derive a nursing theory. The derivation resulted in a testable mid-range theory that could have a significant impact on nursing interventions for postpartum mood disorders.

The positive emotions that facilitate the fulfillment of needs may not be positive emotions at all: the role of ambivalence

RATIONALE

According to some scholars, if individuals experience over three times as many positive emotions as negative emotions, they are more likely to thrive. We contend, however, that perhaps positive and negative emotions that overlap in time are likely to enhance wellbeing. Specifically, if positive and negative emotions are experienced simultaneously rather than separately-called ambivalent emotions-the fundamental needs of individuals are fulfilled more frequently.

EVIDENCE

Considerable evidence supports this perspective. First, many emotions that enhance wellbeing, although classified as positive, also coincide with negative feelings. Second, ambivalent emotions, rather than positive or negative emotions separately, facilitate creativity and resilience. Third, ambivalent emotions activate distinct cognitive systems that enable individuals to form attainable goals, refine their skills, and enhance their relationships.

When do self-discrepancies predict negative emotions? Exploring formal operational thought and abstract reasoning skills as moderators

Individual differences in higher-order cognitive abilities may be an important piece to understanding how and when self-discrepancies lead to negative emotions. In the current study, three measures of reasoning abilities were considered as potential moderators of the relationship between self-discrepancies and depression and anxiety symptoms. Participants (N = 162) completed measures assessing self-discrepancies, depression and anxiety symptoms, and were administered measures examining formal operational thought, and verbal and non-verbal abstract reasoning skills. Both formal operational thought and verbal abstract reasoning were significant moderators of the relationship between actual:ideal discrepancies and depressive symptoms. Discrepancies predicted depressive symptoms for individuals with higher levels of formal operational thought and verbal abstract reasoning skills, but not for those with lower levels. The discussion focuses on the need to consider advanced reasoning skills when examining self-discrepancies.

Cognitive Processes in Response to Goal Failure: A Study of Ruminative Thought and its Affective Consequences

Failure to make progress toward personal goals can lead to negative affective states, such as depression and anxiety. Past research suggests that rumination in response to goal failure may prolong and intensify those acute emotional responses, but that process remains unclear. We examined ruminative thought processes following experimentally manipulated exposure to past failures to attain advancement (promotion) goals and safety (prevention) goals. We predicted that priming of past promotion and prevention goal failures would lead individuals to think repetitively about these failures and that negative affect would be evoked by their recognition of their failures. Further, we predicted that when people experience a sufficient magnitude of negative affect, ruminative thought would intensify and prolong the negative affect associated with that type of goal failure. Results yielded strong support for our predictions regarding promotion goal failure and modest support for those regarding prevention goal failure.

When Being Discrepant from One's Ideal or Ought Selves Hurts: The Moderating Role of Neuroticism

Self–discrepancy theory posits that people experience emotional consequences when they perceive discrepancies between their actual and possible selves. However, the extent to which people react emotionally to these self–discrepancies (i.e. ideal, ought and undesired) may be a function of individual differences in neuroticism. Across both experimental (Study 1; N = 155) and correlational designs (Study 2; N = 139) involving college students, the authors demonstrated that neuroticism moderated the discrepancy–emotion associations such that high–neuroticism individuals showed elevated depression and anxiety symptoms when their self–discrepancies were activated. The heightened symptoms were maintained over time. Negative repetitive thoughts (i.e. rumination and worry) were examined as potential mediating mechanisms between the discrepancy × neuroticism interaction and symptoms. Partial support was obtained in that rumination mediated between undesired discrepancy × neuroticism interaction and anxious/depressive symptoms. Implications and possible theoretical extensions for self–discrepancy theory are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lesbian Community Oughts and Ideals

Our study investigated the importance of the lesbian community and the perceived fit of personal characteristics and behavior with the norms of this community as predictors of depression and anxiety among Young Sexual Minority Women (YSMW) aged 18–35 years. YSMW ( n = 504) completed an online survey in which they reported their degree of identification with the lesbian community, described their sexual minority selves, and rated how far away these descriptions were from their own standards, as well as perceived lesbian community standards, for the person they ought to be and would ideally like to be. Consistent with self-discrepancy theory, falling short of both self and lesbian community ideal standards uniquely predicted depression whereas discrepancies from both ought standards related to anxiety. Furthermore, the links to lesbian community standards were moderated by identification with the lesbian community such that discrepancies from community ideal and ought standards were more strongly associated with negative affect among YSMW who more strongly identified with the lesbian community. Although based on correlational data, results suggest that YSMW perceive strict norms in lesbian communities that they may find difficult to live up to, and these discrepancies may have powerful consequences for experiences of depression and anxiety. Findings highlight the need for both additional research and therapeutic focus on intragroup sources of stress (e.g., normative pressures in sexual minority communities) in addition to intergroup sources of stress (e.g., heterosexism) in order to better our understanding of mental health experiences among sexual minority women.

Regulatory Focus and Anxiety: A Self-Regulatory Model of GAD-Depression Comorbidity

The etiology of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), including its high degree of comorbidity with major depressive disorder (MDD), remains a conceptual and clinical challenge. In this article, we discuss the relevance of regulatory focus theory, an influential theory of self-regulation, for understanding vulnerability to GAD as well as GAD/MDD comorbidity. The theory postulates two systems for pursuing desired end states: the promotion and prevention systems. Drawing upon studies documenting the affective and motivational consequences of failing to attain promotion versus prevention goals, as well as the literature linking promotion failure with depression, we propose how dysfunction within the prevention system could lead to GAD - with, as well as without, MDD.

Could you be more specific, please: self-discrepancies, affect, and variation in specificity and relevance

Multiple studies have suggested that the use of the Selves Questionnaire to assess self-discrepancies related to specific forms of affect may be problematic. The authors tested whether greater specificity in participant characteristics, study context, and form of assessment would increase the ability to detect the hypothesized differences. The Selves Questionnaire failed to show the hypothesized relations. A modified version of the Selves Questionnaire did show some of the hypothesized relationships; however, these relationships were stronger in regard to depression than anxiety, which also contradicted hypotheses. The results provide more evidence that the Selves Questionnaire, especially when used alone, may be of limited use in assessing self-discrepancies as described by self-discrepancy theory.

Borderline personality disorder features: the role of self-discrepancies and self-complexity

OBJECTIVES

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) involves disordered self-conceptions, along with dysphoria and anxiety. The present study examined the role of actual-ideal (AI) and actual-ought (AO) self-discrepancies, and self-complexity as predictors of borderline personality features in a student population.

METHOD

AI and AO self-discrepancy magnitudes across all self-domains were assessed, along with self-complexity, idiographically and nomothetically. Borderline personality features were assessed using subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2).

RESULTS

Both AI and AO self-discrepancies were directly related to BPD personality features, in that those with larger self-discrepancies of both types reported more features. Self-complexity had no direct relationship to BPD personality features; rather, it moderated the relationship between AI, but not AO, self-discrepancies and BPD personality features. For individuals low in self-complexity, a stronger relationship between AI self-discrepancies and BPD personality features existed.

CONCLUSIONS

This study is novel in its consideration of the impact of features of the self-system on BPD personality features. It highlights the important role that AO self-discrepancies, and the combined role of AI self-discrepancies and self-complexity, have in increasing vulnerability to BPD. The findings suggest that different pathways might be involved in the vulnerability to BPD, depending on self-discrepancy type and level of self-complexity.