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Self-efficacy as a mediator between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Differences based on history of
P K Maciejewski1, H G Prigerson, C M Mazure
1Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Background:
Self-efficacy, a characteristic that is protective against depressive symptoms, may be undermined by stressful life events.
Aims:
To estimate the effects of stressful life events on self-efficacy, and to examine self-efficacy as a mediator of the effect of stressful life events on symptoms of depression.
Method:
Using a sample of 2858 respondents from the longitudinal Americans' Changing Lives study, path analyses were used to evaluate interrelationships between self-efficacy, life events and symptoms of depression controlling for a variety of potentially confounding variables. Separate models were estimated for those with and without prior depression.
Results:
For those with prior depression, dependent life events had a significant, negative impact on self-efficacy. For those without prior depression, life events had no effect on self-efficacy.
Conclusions:
For those with prior depression, self-efficacy mediates approximately 40% of the effect of dependent stressful life events on symptoms of depression.
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