Self-esteem and vulnerability to depression: the concurrent validity of interview and questionnaire measures

In a cross-sectional study of 146 women, we examined the association of M. Rosenberg's (1965) self-esteem questionnaire and the Self-Evaluation and Social Support Instrument (SESS), an interview measure of self-esteem, with two major risk factors for depression--early adversity and negativity in current close relationships. Although both measures were related to the risk factors, only the SESS accounted for unique variance when the two measures were considered together and current depression was controlled. The results suggest that the reason the SESS has previously been more effective in predicting depression (G. W. Brown, B. Andrews, T. O. Harris, Z. Adler, & L. Bridge, 1986) is because it taps specific areas of self-dissatisfaction in real-life situations and is therefore less vulnerable to mood-state effects than the more global questionnaire measure.