Social comparison, self-esteem and depression in people with intellectual disability

The present study explores the relationship between social comparison processes, self-esteem and depression in people with intellectual disability. Forty-three people with mild and moderate intellectual disability completed adapted measures of self-esteem and social comparison. The social comparison scale offers subscale scores on achievement, social attractiveness and group belonging dimensions. The self-esteem scale offers subscale scores for positive and negative self-esteem. A significant positive correlation was found between positive self-esteem and social comparison on the achievement dimension. Depression was significantly negatively correlated with social comparison on the social attractiveness and group belonging dimensions, and with positive self-esteem. Regression analysis showed that depression was significantly and independently predicted only by social comparison on the social attractiveness dimension. The present authors conclude that social comparison is associated with self-esteem and depression in people with intellectual disability in the same way as it is for people without intellectual disability. Further exploration of social comparison process in people with intellectual disability may inform cognitive behavioural interventions for this group of people.