Hope and Depression 1

Cited As:Du, H., King, R.B. & Chu, S.K.W. (2016). Hope, Social Support, and Depression among Hong Kong Youth: Personal and Relational Self-esteem as Mediators. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 21(8), 926-931, DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2015.1127397.

Hope, social support, and depression among Hong Kong youth: Personal and relational self-esteem as mediators

Hongfei Du1, Ronnel B. King2, Samuel K.W.Chu3

1Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao

2Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong

3Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Corresponding author: Hongfei Du, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao, China. Tel: +853-8822-4208, Email:

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Health Care and Promotion Fund of the Hong Kong Government.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that depression is negatively associated with hope and social support. However, little research has been undertaken to investigate the theoretical mechanisms underlying the connectionsamong hope, social support, and depression. This study examined how two types of self-esteem (personal and relational) would mediate the relationship ofhope andsocial support to depression among 384 Hong Kong adolescents (age: 12-18 years; M= 14, SD = 1.19). Participants reported their levels of hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, and depressive mood. Results of the path analysis showed that both personal and relational self-esteem mediated the associations of hope and social support with depression. Hope and social support were associated with higher levels of personal and relational self-esteem, which were in turn related to decreased levels of depression. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, depression

Introduction

Adolescence is a crucial developmental period because many adolescents demonstrate psychological difficulties, including depression (Petersen, 1988; Petersen et al., 1993; Thapar, Collishaw, Pine, & Thapar, 2012). The current study investigated whether hope and social support can serve as protective factors against depression and whether self-esteem mediates the relationship of hope and social support with depression. Hope is the perceived capability to produce pathways to desired goals and to motivate oneself to use these pathways (Rand & Cheavens, 2009). Successful goal pursuit leads to more positive emotions. For example,hopeful middle school students were shown to have less depression (Ashby, Dickinson, Gnilka, & Noble, 2011).Aninverse relation between hope and depression was also found in longitudinal investigations (Arnau, Rosen, Finch, Rhudy, & Fortunato, 2007).

Aside fromhope, adolescents can also draw support from parents and friends to cope with depression. Adolescents receiving higher levels of social support reported better psychological well-being (Gaylord-Harden, Ragsdale, Mandara, Richards, & Petersen, 2007; Rueger, Malecki, & Demaray, 2010). For example, Hong Kong adolescents who sought social support had better mental health outcomes(Chan, 1995).

Although hope and social support have been considered as protective factors, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that underlie the relationship of hope and social support to depression. The literature suggests that both hope and social support enhance self-esteem(Ciarrochi, Heaven, & Davies, 2007; Du & King, 2013; Du, Li, Chi, Zhao, & Zhao, 2014). Moreover, self-esteem isan effective positive resource in coping with stress and depression (Tae, Heitkemper, & Kim, 2012). Hence, we hypothesized that hope and social support may alleviate depression throughenhancing self-esteem.

Self-esteem can be rooted in one's personal characteristics or relational identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). People who have extraordinary skills and talent tend to have higher levels of personal self-esteem (Tafarodi & Swann, 2001); whereas people who feel that they are valued by their significant others can gain higher levels of relational self-esteem (Du, King, & Chi, 2012).The current study will examine whether both personal and relational self-esteem mediatethe relationship of hope and social support to depression. The findings will provide new perspectives for interventions against depression in terms of a) integrating both individual and collective components in health care service, b) improving the effectiveness of hope and social support interventions through boosting self-esteem.

To answer these questions, we examinedadolescents in Hong Kong. This population hasbeen found to haverelatively high levels of depression, relative to a comparison group of Western adolescents(Stewart et al., 1999). We hypothesized that depression would be inversely associated with hope, social support, personal and relational self-esteem. Hope and social support would be positively associated with personal and relational self-esteem. With respect to mediation effects, both personal and relational self-esteem would mediate the relationships between hope and depression, and between social support and depression.

Methods

Participants

Participants were assessed as part of a larger study among Hong Kong adolescents (Chu et al., 2015; Law, Du, King, & Chu, 2014). Participants were recruited from three schools in Hong Kong through convenience sampling. Informed consent was sought from both the parents and students, and the institutional board granted ethical approval. Three hundred and eighty four students completed the survey. Four of participants who reported nationality as non-Chinese were excluded from the analysis, leaving 380 participants in the current sample (184 females). The mean age is 14 years old (SD = 1.19, range 12-18 years). Although this convenience sample could not be considered representative of Hong Kong adolescents, it proved to be a cost-effective approach for reaching this population.

Instruments

Hope was assessed with the 6-item Children’s Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1997). Participants answered the itemson a 6-point scale (1 = none of the time, 6 = all of the time)，with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of hope (α = .92).

Social support was assessed with the eight items of the Social Support Scale (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) assessing social support from family and friends. Participants answered the items on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of social support (α = .93).

Personal Self-Esteem was assessed with the 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Participants answered the items on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of personal self-esteem (α = .77).

Relational Self-Esteem was assessed with the 8-item Relational Self-Esteem Scale (Du et al., 2012; Du et al., 2014). Participants answered the items on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of relational self-esteem (α = .88).

Depression was assessed with the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(Andresen, Malmgren, Carter, & Patrick, 1994; Radloff, 1977). Participants answered the items on a 4-point scale (1 = rarely or none of the time/less than 1 day, 4 = most or all of the time/5-7 days), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of depression (α = .83).

Results

Table 1 presents the descriptive data and correlations amongthe variables. Path analysis was conducted using Mplus 5.1 (Muthén & Muthén, 2008) to test the meditational model. The model (see Figure 1) provided an excellent fit to the data (χ2 =3.77, df = 2, p = .15, CFI = 0.996, TLI = .984, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.015), explaining 28% of the variance in depression. As expected, both hope and social support were positively associated with personal and relational self-esteem;while depression was negatively associated with personal and relational self-esteem. The two types of self-esteem were also positively associated with each other.

With respect to mediation, in line with our hypotheses, personal self-esteem mediated the effects of both hope (β = -.16, p < .001) and social support (β = -.10, p < .001) on depression. Relational self-esteem also mediated the effects of both hope (β = -.05, p = .015) and social support (β = -.06, p = .014) on depression. In addition, hopehad a marginally significant direct effect on depression (β = -.11, p = .051) and social support did not show a direct effect on depression (β = -.01, p = .849).Therefore,the two types of self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between hope and depression and fully mediated the relationship between social support and depression.

Discussion

The current study extended the literature by demonstrating the role of both personal and relational self-esteem in mediating the link between hope and social support to depression. Moreover, it showed the importance of relational self-esteem in buffering against depressioneven after controlling for the effect of personal self-esteem. Previous studies have shown that social support affected depression through personal self-esteem (Symister & Friend, 2003). Relational self-esteem is a distinct construct yet it is closely associated with personal self-esteem(Du, Bernardo, & Yeung, 2015). Our findings suggest that when people have a positive future outlook and receive support from others, they are less likely to become depressed because of enhanced personal and relational self-esteem. Future studies should consider the impact of relational self-esteem on mental health among vulnerable populations, such as people with psychological disorders or physical illnesses.

The current study had several limitations. We used a convenience sample so that the findings may not be generalized to all Hong Kong adolescents. The data is cross-sectional, which limits us from makingcausal inferences about the associations among the variables.In addition, participants themselves are the only informant of their mental health status in this study. Collectingdata from multiple informants (e.g., parents andteachers) would reduce common method variance and increase the opportunities to identify adolescents with mental health problems.

Our findings suggest that intervention programs addressing depression may need to focus on helping adolescents recognize their own sense of worth through their personal accomplishments (personal self-esteem) and social relationships (relational self-esteem). Programs that focus on raising participants' levels of hope and their sense of social belongingness may be especially effective.

References

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Ashby, J. S., Dickinson, W. L., Gnilka, P. B., & Noble, C. L. (2011). Hope as a mediator and moderator of multidimensional perfectionism and depression in middle school students. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89(2), 131-139.

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Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations for measures

Variables / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
1. Hope / 1
2. Social support / .44*** / 1
3. Personal self-esteem / .43*** / .36*** / 1
4. Relational self-esteem / .59*** / .62*** / .45*** / 1
5. Depression / -.21*** / -.25*** / -.52*** / -.33*** / 1
Mean / 3.85 / 3.76 / 2.68 / 2.98 / 0.81
SD / 1.00 / 0.72 / 0.41 / 0.44 / 0.56

Note. *** p < .001.

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Hope and Depression 1

Figure 1. Path model with hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, and depression.CFI = 0.996, TLI = .984, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.015. *p < .05; *** p < .001.