Relation of depressive symptoms to the structure of self-knowledge in childhood

Measures of positive, negative, and total self-complexity (or self-concept differentiation), self-compartmentalization, self-reported negative events, and self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder were completed by 4th-, 6th-, and 8th-grade public school students. Measures of self-complexity and self-compartmentalization related positively to depression. Results were consistent across grade level. Controlling for anxiety and conduct disorder did not attenuate these effects. Results for positive and negative self-complexity were essentially equivalent to those for total self-complexity. Interactions between self-complexity and negative event and between self-compartmentalization and differential importance were not significant. The authors propose that self-complexity in childhood constitutes a response to negative self-relevant information sometimes conveyed by negative events. The authors conjecture that self-complexity does not buffer the impact of negative events in childhood but may serve as a buffer later in life.