Abstract

Background According to Beck’s cognitive theory of depression, individuals with depression exhibit negative bias in self-appraisals from the first-person perspective. However, comparative research between self-appraisals in the first-person and third-person perspectives (e.g., mother’s perspective) is rare. Moreover, the mother is represented as a part of self among Chinese late-adolescents. Objective This study examined whether negative bias in self-appraisal is consistent between the first-person and third-person perspectives among late-adolescents with mild depression. Methods Late-adolescents with mild depression (29 in Experiment 1a and 36 in Experiment 2a) and late-adolescents without mild depression (31 in Experiment 1b and 41 in Experiment 2b) were separately tested on recognition memory using the Remember/Know self-reference paradigm in two experiments. Results In Experiment 1, there were higher recognition scores for positive valence adjectives than negative valence adjectives for self-appraisals in late-adolescents both with and without mild depression. In contrast, the reflected self-appraisals of the mother exhibited a negative bias. In Experiment 2, reflected self-appraisals of mother displayed a higher negative bias than that of a friend or classmate. Conclusion Positive self-cognition exists in late-adolescents both with and without mild depression. Negative self-cognition of late-adolescents with mild depression might be derived more from the third-person perspective of the mother than that of a classmate or a friend, indicating that the mother’s negative perspective was more valued. Thus, it is important to consider mother’s support during psychological interventions with Chinese late-adolescents in the early stages of depression.

Citation

Wei Bao, Yunhong Wang¹, Xue Fu, Caizhen Yue & Junlong Luo. (2022). Is the Negative Bias in Self-appraisal of Late-adolescents with Mild Depression Derived from their Mother?. Current Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02742-7