Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults
Апстракт
Previous research has shown that depressiveness in emerging adulthood represents one of the
outcomes of distress regarding the perception of long distance from the ideal self, reflecting
poorly on psychological well-being. But what if the stress response could be mediated by
people’s confidence in their ability to control the distance? This work aimed to examine the
nature of the relationship between mentioned distress, confidence to change, depressive
symptoms, and psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 364 emerging adults (81.3% female), aged 18-30 (M = 21.44, SD = 2.36). All participants were students, mostly at the undergraduate level (80%). They completed Self-Discrepancies Scale, listing features of four “self-guides”: desired & undesired self, ought & un-ought self (<un>desired for them by the significant others). Participants estimated the extent to which they possess the features and answered (Likert, 1-7) how big they find the discrepancies between desired sel...f-guides (ideal self) and their current self, how much distress this causes (DIS), and how confident they feel to reach the ideal (CONF). The depression score (DEP) was singled out from the 42-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Likert, 1-4). Flourishing Scale (Likert, 1-7), an 8-item summary operationalized through relationships, self-esteem, life-purpose, and optimism was used for measuring well-being (WB). The main analysis was conducted with Hayes PROCESS macro, Model 6. The results showed three significant indirect effects, two simple and one sequential mediation: 1. DIS – CONF – WB (ae = -.06, SE = .01, CI [-.09, -.03]); 2. DIS – DEP – WB (dc = -.10, SE = .02, CI [-.13, -.05]); 3. DIS – CONF – DEP – WB (abc = - .04, SE = .01, CI [-.07, -.02]). No direct, only mediated effects of distress on well-being were found. Therefore, higher distress regarding perceived discrepancies between ideal and current self only affected psychological well-being through lower self-confidence to change this proportion, higher depression levels, and both. Suggested model explained almost half of the well-being variance (R²= 0.49, p = .000). The higher stress levels could be interpreted as the lower satisfaction with the current self, leading to depressiveness, which is often mediated via feelings of helplessness. Ultimately, this could cause dissatisfaction on the broader well-being level and create a loop, leading recurrently to wider discrepancies, more profound distress, and depression.
Кључне речи:
ideal self / distress / depression / well-being / emerging adultsИзвор:
Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade, 2022, 35-36Издавач:
- Institut za psihologiju i Laboratorija za eksperimentalnu psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu
Финансирање / пројекти:
- 451-03-9/2021-14/ 200163
Напомена:
- M34
Институција/група
Psihologija / PsychologyTY - CONF AU - Vuletić, Teodora PY - 2022 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/5172 AB - Previous research has shown that depressiveness in emerging adulthood represents one of the outcomes of distress regarding the perception of long distance from the ideal self, reflecting poorly on psychological well-being. But what if the stress response could be mediated by people’s confidence in their ability to control the distance? This work aimed to examine the nature of the relationship between mentioned distress, confidence to change, depressive symptoms, and psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 364 emerging adults (81.3% female), aged 18-30 (M = 21.44, SD = 2.36). All participants were students, mostly at the undergraduate level (80%). They completed Self-Discrepancies Scale, listing features of four “self-guides”: desired & undesired self, ought & un-ought self (<un>desired for them by the significant others). Participants estimated the extent to which they possess the features and answered (Likert, 1-7) how big they find the discrepancies between desired self-guides (ideal self) and their current self, how much distress this causes (DIS), and how confident they feel to reach the ideal (CONF). The depression score (DEP) was singled out from the 42-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Likert, 1-4). Flourishing Scale (Likert, 1-7), an 8-item summary operationalized through relationships, self-esteem, life-purpose, and optimism was used for measuring well-being (WB). The main analysis was conducted with Hayes PROCESS macro, Model 6. The results showed three significant indirect effects, two simple and one sequential mediation: 1. DIS – CONF – WB (ae = -.06, SE = .01, CI [-.09, -.03]); 2. DIS – DEP – WB (dc = -.10, SE = .02, CI [-.13, -.05]); 3. DIS – CONF – DEP – WB (abc = - .04, SE = .01, CI [-.07, -.02]). No direct, only mediated effects of distress on well-being were found. Therefore, higher distress regarding perceived discrepancies between ideal and current self only affected psychological well-being through lower self-confidence to change this proportion, higher depression levels, and both. Suggested model explained almost half of the well-being variance (R²= 0.49, p = .000). The higher stress levels could be interpreted as the lower satisfaction with the current self, leading to depressiveness, which is often mediated via feelings of helplessness. Ultimately, this could cause dissatisfaction on the broader well-being level and create a loop, leading recurrently to wider discrepancies, more profound distress, and depression. PB - Institut za psihologiju i Laboratorija za eksperimentalnu psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu C3 - Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade T1 - Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults EP - 36 SP - 35 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5172 ER -
@conference{ author = "Vuletić, Teodora", year = "2022", abstract = "Previous research has shown that depressiveness in emerging adulthood represents one of the outcomes of distress regarding the perception of long distance from the ideal self, reflecting poorly on psychological well-being. But what if the stress response could be mediated by people’s confidence in their ability to control the distance? This work aimed to examine the nature of the relationship between mentioned distress, confidence to change, depressive symptoms, and psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 364 emerging adults (81.3% female), aged 18-30 (M = 21.44, SD = 2.36). All participants were students, mostly at the undergraduate level (80%). They completed Self-Discrepancies Scale, listing features of four “self-guides”: desired & undesired self, ought & un-ought self (<un>desired for them by the significant others). Participants estimated the extent to which they possess the features and answered (Likert, 1-7) how big they find the discrepancies between desired self-guides (ideal self) and their current self, how much distress this causes (DIS), and how confident they feel to reach the ideal (CONF). The depression score (DEP) was singled out from the 42-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Likert, 1-4). Flourishing Scale (Likert, 1-7), an 8-item summary operationalized through relationships, self-esteem, life-purpose, and optimism was used for measuring well-being (WB). The main analysis was conducted with Hayes PROCESS macro, Model 6. The results showed three significant indirect effects, two simple and one sequential mediation: 1. DIS – CONF – WB (ae = -.06, SE = .01, CI [-.09, -.03]); 2. DIS – DEP – WB (dc = -.10, SE = .02, CI [-.13, -.05]); 3. DIS – CONF – DEP – WB (abc = - .04, SE = .01, CI [-.07, -.02]). No direct, only mediated effects of distress on well-being were found. Therefore, higher distress regarding perceived discrepancies between ideal and current self only affected psychological well-being through lower self-confidence to change this proportion, higher depression levels, and both. Suggested model explained almost half of the well-being variance (R²= 0.49, p = .000). The higher stress levels could be interpreted as the lower satisfaction with the current self, leading to depressiveness, which is often mediated via feelings of helplessness. Ultimately, this could cause dissatisfaction on the broader well-being level and create a loop, leading recurrently to wider discrepancies, more profound distress, and depression.", publisher = "Institut za psihologiju i Laboratorija za eksperimentalnu psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu", journal = "Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade", title = "Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults", pages = "36-35", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5172" }
Vuletić, T.. (2022). Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults. in Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade Institut za psihologiju i Laboratorija za eksperimentalnu psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu., 35-36. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5172
Vuletić T. Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults. in Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade. 2022;:35-36. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5172 .
Vuletić, Teodora, "Am I Good Enough? The Mediated Effects of Distance from the Ideal Self on the Well-Being of Emerging Adults" in Book of Abstracts, 28th Empirical Studies in Psychology, Belgrade (2022):35-36, https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5172 .