Using Implicit–Explicit Discrepancies in Self-Esteem to Predict Childhood Depression at Age 9

• In Event: Heterogeneity in Self-Esteem Development: New Theoretical Insights and Longitudinal Evidence

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are common among children and adolescents. Population-based studies suggest that approximately 10-15% of U.S. children experience major depression, and one third develop an anxiety disorder (Kessler et al., 2012). Internalizing psychopathology that begins in childhood is associated with a host of adverse long-term consequences, including elevated risk for substance use, heightened risk for recurrent depression, and anxiety disorders in adulthood (Lewinsohn, Rohde, Seeley, Klein, & Gotlib, 2000). This highlights the importance of creating developmentally appropriate screening tools that can identify the emergence of internalizing problems in childhood (Luby, 2010).

This study evaluated whether combining explicit and implicit measures of childhood self-esteem can be a useful approach towards developing markers for the emergence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. The links between implicit‒explicit discrepancies and the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children were examined in a longitudinal study testing the same children at two time points, at 5 and 9 years of age.

At 5-years-old, 137 children completed an implicit self-esteem measure, based on the Child Implicit Association Test (Child IAT). The Child IAT is a computerized categorization task that measures strengths of associations among categories without requiring self-report. An IAT score (D) is calculated from the speed with which children categorize exemplars from four categories using only two response options (Cvencek, Greenwald, & Meltzoff, 2016). At 9-years-old, the same children completed measures of implicit self-esteem (Child IAT), explicit self-esteem (Global Scale of the Self-Perception Profile for Children; Harter, 1982), depression (Children’s Depression Inventory; Kovacs, 1992), and anxiety (Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children; March, Parker, Sullivan, Stallings, & Conners, 1997).

Three novel findings emerged. First, explicit, but not implicit, self-esteem was negatively related to depressive (r = –.54, p < .001) and anxiety symptoms (r = –.27, p = .003) in 9-year-olds. Second, higher implicit than explicit self-esteem was related to depressive (β = .56, p < .001), but not to anxiety symptoms (β = .05, p = .73). Third, longitudinal implicit‒explicit discrepancies from age 5 to 9 years were predictive of depressive symptoms more strongly than the concurrent implicit‒explicit discrepancies at age 9 were, d = 0.46, p = .013. The overall pattern suggests that the appearance of depressive symptoms in children is associated with discrepancies between implicit and explicit self-esteem, and not just lower levels of implicit self-esteem or lower levels of explicit self-esteem taken alone.

Taken altogether, this study illustrates the benefits of combining work in developmental, child-clinical, and social psychology to provide a more complete view of the developing child. Combining implicit and explicit measures of self-esteem across developmental time points can be used to examine early markers of depression in children at younger ages than typically possible with explicit measures alone. Additional focus should be given to the mechanisms that cause discrepancies between child’s implicit and explicit self-esteem. This might contribute to improvements in early screening and detection of children at risk for depression—a condition that is often chronic and associated with substantial impairment and disability.

Authors

• Dario Cvencek, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Anthony G. Greenwald, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katie McLaughlin, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrew N Meltzoff, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author