The Long-term Effects of Self-Esteem on Depression: The Roles of Alcohol and Substance Use During Young Adulthood

ABSTRACT

Using the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979, this study examines the roles of alcohol and substance use as mediators in the mechanism between self-esteem and depression, and investigates whether the mechanism works for both men and women. Results demonstrate that alcohol and substance use during young adulthood mediates the effect of self-esteem on depression among men. Furthermore, self-esteem during young adulthood remains a determinant of high depression in middle adulthood. However, we did not find evidence to support that same mechanism among women. Our findings provide insight into how self-esteem affects depression over the transition from young to middle adulthood, and elucidate potential gendered responsivity to low self-esteem.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol and substance use
• depression
• long-term effect
• mediation analysis
• self-esteem

Funding

We acknowledge assistance from the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University at Albany, State University of New York, which receives core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD R24-HD044943).

Notes

1. This study focused on marijuana and cocaine because they are the two most widely used substances and important determinants of individual outcomes, such as health, employment, and marital stability (DeSimone 2002; Kaestner 1997). Different types of substances including amphetamines, barbiturates, and tranquilizers were only measured in 1984, which makes it inappropriate to include them as mediators in this study, and information on other substances, such as opioids, is not available in the NLSY79 data.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge assistance from the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University at Albany, State University of New York, which receives core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD R24-HD044943).

Notes on contributors

Kiwoong Park

Kiwoong Park is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and is affiliated with the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at University at Albany, SUNY. His primary research interests are socioeconomic determinants of health inequalities, biosocial development from childhood to adulthood, and causal inference. His work has appeared in Journal of Urban Health and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Tse-Chuan Yang

Tse-Chuan Yang is an assistant professor of sociology and research associate at the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the University at Albany, SUNY. His research interests focus on investigating neighborhood-level determinants of racial/ethnic health disparities and examining the pathways linking major life events, such as discrimination experience, to a range of social and health outcomes. His previous work has appeared in Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Social Science & Medicine, Health & Place, and American Journal of Public Health, among others.