Can Someone with Low Self-Esteem Be at Risk to Depression

Can Someone with Low Self-Esteem Be at Risk to Depression

            Depression is a condition which limits individuals’ efficiency and leads to loss of interest and moods, since it affects the normal functioning of their bodies, thus bringing out some negative symptoms. This condition is a result of the association of different reactions, such as mental, genetic, and social sources of distress within a person. On the other hand, low self-esteem is brought by the lack of confidence within oneself, which can lead to self-hatred. Many debates have come up, arguing whether the possibilities of experiencing depression are a result of low self-esteem. Some researches which have been conducted to assess the relationship between the two aspects depict that they are interrelated, whereby low self-esteem may lead to depression. In this case, the vulnerability model gathered general evaluations that individuals suffer from the effects of low self-esteem and depressive symptoms.

According to the research results conducted by Orth, Robins, Widaman, & Conger (2014), to establish the relationship between the two variables, two regression models were used, and the results indicated that self-esteem and depression should be molded separately. There are no meaningful gender differences in the model, just like it was established. The current study was aimed at conducting a unique replication in which there was an attempt to reproduce results from a previously published longitudinal study.

From the research, the vulnerability theory’s results seemed to provide answers to this claim, where it formulated that depression and low self-esteem were interrelated. This outcome seemed to oppose the one formulated by the scar theory. Based on the work by Orth et al., (2008), it also authenticated the claim that depression and low self-esteem were inseparable concepts, thus approving the vulnerability theory. In their study, they tried to find the connection between depression and self-esteem by assessing young adolescent children. This work was based on the exploration of comprehensive esteem but not on any fixed element. Also, there was a difference in the criticizing impacts of low self-esteem on both children. Besides, their preceding work acted as a reference point to help in the deeper exploration of the connection between these two concepts by offering a wider range of data from a different setting (Conger et al., 2014). Their study examined and provided the essential data on the possible causes of depression from the context of Mexico, the United States, and the Netherlands, thus increasing the reliance on the vulnerability theory.

The corresponding correlation between the symptoms of depression and self-esteem were experimented, ranging from young to adult people. The outcomes obtained from the experiment clearly depicted that low self-esteem is a prospective risk factor for depression. On the other hand, in both researches, self-esteem could not forecast the future rise of depression symptoms among individuals (Sowislo, Orth, & Meier, 2014). The outcomes of these works were similar in all tested areas, hence showing different symptoms of depression.

After Orth et al. did the experimental studies., (2008) and Orth et al. (2012), the outcomes depicted that self-esteem contributed to depression. During growth and development, the two constructs association rises and falls during the various stages, but end up being stable at adulthood to the elderly stage. According to the vulnerability model, low self-esteem has a consistent effect on depression, which assumes that the fore is an age-related factor for the latter. During the research, one of the key implications findings is the interceding mechanism that plays

different roles during human developmental stages. Generally, it can be deduced that there is a possibility of low self-esteem being a potential cause of depression, despite the non-clinical nature of the results obtained. In this case, using a precise set of diagnostic criteria, there is a need for more studies to be conducted to assess the way self-esteem risks one to depression.

According to the study by Orth, Robins, & Roberts (2008), it focused on experimenting with the complete duration needed in predicting the evolvement of self-esteem and its possible effect on various outcomes of life, such as depression and health. From the study, a curvilinear path of self-esteem increased depending on age; for instance, it increased from childhood to adulthood stage and decreased in the elderly stage (Orth et al., 2010). Also, it presented other effects, which portrayed that it affected the life results similar to what was obtained in other studies. These comparisons lead to the conclusion that self-esteem is a cause of outcomes of life, hence disapproving of any claims that it is a consequence (Johnson, Galambos, Finn, Neyer, & Horne, 2017).

According to Meier et al. (2014), they suggested that in previous studies, there were some peaks paths of self-esteem, although the overall shape of the trajectory was similar. In addition, based on previous studies, they established that the impacts of depression and low self-esteem that cause people to suffer increase as individuals move from different milestones in life. Besides, there was a connection between low self-esteem and adulthood depression when forty-five years’ older people have been compared to young adolescent children (Orth, Robins, Trzesniewski, Maes, & Schmitt, 2009). Also, the research showed that the vulnerability effect and scar model affects people from the early adolescent stage to mid-adulthood. The vulnerability model had strong effects compared to the scar model, where the outcomes were similar from previous studies that used the same standard data set. All these examples imply that there is a higher possibility of self-esteem leading to depression in early adulthood until 35 years.

The research results contribute to a better understanding of the long-term relevance of adolescent self-esteem and depressive symptoms in human life. Young adults are advised to maintain reasonable and sound sense during their teenage life’s phase so that they may eliminate cases of depression when they become older (Steiger, Allemand, Robins, & Fend, 2014). This situation also relates to the claim that the more individuals exit the adolescence phase, the less they can positively boost their self-esteem. Also, in the study, the rationality of the vulnerability and scar effects support for these effects was not found, while the mechanisms of adult self-esteem and depressive symptoms were supported. According to Steiger, Fend, & Allemand (2015), they claimed that short-term researches involving depression and self-esteem among children and their parents revealed cases of scar and vulnerability effects.

The research objective was to clarify whether the consequences of depression and low self-esteem in the vulnerability model is brought by ineffective narcissism (Baciu, Negussie, Geller, Weinstein, & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). This analysis used data from six longitudinal studies, whereby each study of narcissism and self-esteem were used for each construct. The outcomes of the research revealed that when self-love was under control, there was a very weak impact of low-esteem. The assessment further displayed the entire continuum to have sequential outcomes ranging from low to high self-esteem. Also, there was no interaction between depression and the effects of narcissism and self-esteem. This situation implies that, despite people being narcissistic or not, if they show high self-esteem, they have minimal chances of becoming depressed.

The study also assessed the intrapersonal and interpersonal interaction between depression and self-esteem. From the study, there were several conclusions. First, the chances of developing depression can be foreseen through self-esteem, but not the other way round. It was, further, revealed that there was a high response from male business partners compared to their female counterparts, as a result of lesser connection to depression symptoms. Besides, even if female partners were unable to intercede on their male counterparts, the negative impacts of their self-esteem, which represents depression symptoms, did not have any vulnerability effects on low self-esteem.

Additionally, from the research, depression experiences among males lead that of their counterparts. Basing on the cross-partner association, the study aroused some interests between the depression symptoms from both genders. A vital conclusion can be drawn where the vulnerability model than women more favors men. This situation can be understood in encounters with high depressive symptoms in women than in men. Also, men do not maintain higher depression symptoms like women, which is reduced in their adult lives. It is also observed that, if there is a provision of support or not during tough situations on both genders, there are possibilities for future depression, hence acting as a beneficial factor on other partners.

Some gaps exist from the literature, for instance, informal tests of cross-cultural differences of the scar and vulnerability model to determine if there are cultures that might be more prone to the scar model than groups compared here. From the research, no information has been provided, confirming the causal impact of low self-esteem. The focus of the study has been on western countries, particularly the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. Also, the study has some gaps; for instance, it is non-experimental, the naturalistic study design does not allow strong conclusions regarding causality of the prospective effect of low self-esteem on depression. There is a gap in the extent to which the vulnerability model applies to men and women.

I will strive to minimize the outlined limitations. In relation to the formal tests in the models, I will establish if other societies are susceptible to the scar model with the compared participants. Also, there will be a provision of data approving the causal effect of low self-esteem. Besides, I will use other countries instead of taking the western states as my focal setting of the study as well as there is a need for me to establish the vulnerability degree of both genders. In the research, I will outline the mediation aspects of self-esteem impacts on depression symptoms to carefully describe and examine the extent to which their association in both models apply to both genders.

In conclusion, did my study supports what I was researching? Yes, my study’s outcome showed that people with low self-esteem are at high risk of developing depression; hence, it is a potential cause of the condition. Low self-esteem, however, is not a causal but consequential aspect. Also, the correlation between depression and self-esteem lacks a significant difference. The limitations that arose from the study should be eliminated and gaps filled in the subsequent future studies.

References

Baciu, A., Negussie, Y., Geller, A., Weinstein, J. N., & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). The State of Health Disparities in the United States.       In Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity. National Academies Press (US).

Johnson, M. D., Galambos, N. L., Finn, C., Neyer, F. J., & Horne, R. M. (2017). Pathways between self-esteem and depression in couples. Developmental psychology, 53(4), 787.

Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Roberts, B. W. (2008). Low self-esteem prospectively predicts            depression in adolescence and young adulthood — Journal of personality and social        psychology, 95(3), 695.

Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Widaman, K. F. (2012). Life-span development of self-esteem and its            effects on important life outcomes. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(6),        1271.

Orth, U., Robins, R. W., Meier, L. L., & Conger, R. D. (2016). Refining the vulnerability model of low self-esteem and depression: Disentangling the effects of genuine self-esteem and          narcissism. Journal of personality and social psychology, 110(1), 133.

Orth, U., Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H., Maes, J., & Schmitt, M. (2009). Low self-esteem    is a risk factor for depressive symptoms from young adulthood to old age — Journal of          abnormal psychology, 118(3), 472.

Orth, U., Robins, R. W., Widaman, K. F., & Conger, R. D. (2014). Is low self-esteem a risk          factor for depression? Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth.    Developmental psychology, 50(2), 622.