Compared with Him or Her, I Am Not Good Enough: How to Alleviate Depression Due to Upward Social Comparison?

Abstract

The present study primarily aims to examine the mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of personal growth initiative (PGI) in the relationship between upward social comparison and senior high school students’ depression and to explore the gender difference in this association. A total of 721 Chinese senior high school students (61.16% boys; M = 16.21 years, SD = 1.07) completed measures of upward social comparison, core self-evaluation, personal growth initiative, and depression. Results showed a significant positive correlation between upward social comparison and depression. Core self-evaluation partially mediated this association, and a gender difference in the indirect effect was revealed; that is, the effect was shown to be stronger for girls than for boys. Moreover, for boys, the mediating effect of core self-evaluation was moderated by PGI, and the effect was more potent for individuals with high PGI than for those with low PGI. However, no moderating effect of PGI on the indirect effect was found for girls. These findings suggest that prevention and interventions focusing on reducing upward social comparison and enhancing core self-evaluation may alleviate adolescents’ depression symptoms and that more attention should be given to girls with low core self-evaluation and boys with high PGI.

Keywords:

• Depression
• upward social comparison
• core self-evaluation
• personal growth initiative
• senior high school students

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the students and teachers of the participating schools for their time and support.

Author Notes

Zhao Weiguo is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University. Her research focuses on developmental and educational psychology, including adolescent internalizing behavior, learning psychology, and teacher professional development.

Ding Wen is a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University of China. Her research interests are principally in the areas of developmental and educational psychology, focusing on examining social cognitive mechanisms to promote the youth development in general.

Li Qingtian is a graduate student at the School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University. His research interests focus on learning psychology and mental health of adolescent.

Wang Xinning is a graduate student at the School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University. Her research interests include adolescent personality and social development, learning psychology, and so on.

Zhao Ming, Master of education, graduate from the Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University. Her research focuses on the social cognitive mechanism and the intervention of adolescent depression.

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (Zhao, W.G.) on request.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained from Shandong Normal University of China.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

Shandong Normal University’s 2019 school–level teaching reform project, P. R. China (2019XM44). Education Science 14th Five Year Plan Project in Shandong Province (2021ZD014).