Self-esteem, perfectionism and locus of control as predictors of depression

Smatra se da je depresija jedan od najčešćih psihičkih poremećaja u današnje vrijeme s ozbiljnim personalnim, interpersonalnim i društvenim posljedicama (Baldwin i Birtwistle, 2002). Iz tih razloga, istraživanje ove bolesti postalo je vrlo značajno u kliničkoj psihologiji te se pokazalo vrlo važnim za istražiti što veći broj čimbenika koji utječu na njezin razvoj kako bi se moglo što bolje razumijeti i prevenirati nastanak ove bolesti. Stoga je i cilj ovoga rada bio ispitati povezanost depresije, samopoštovanja, perfekcionizma i lokusa kontrole te utvrditi u kojoj mjeri samopoštovanje, perfekcionizam i lokus kontole doprinose objašnjenju rezultata na ljestvici depresivnosti. Istraživanje je provedeno na 58 sudionika (25 muškaraca i 33 žene) koji se liječe zbog simptoma depresivnosti u Psihijatrijskoj bolnici Sveti Ivan u Zagrebu. Za mjerenje spomenutih konstrukata, korištena je Skala depresivnosti, anksioznosti i stresa (Lovibond i Lovibond, 1955), Rosenbergova skala samopoštovanja (Rosenberg, 1965), Ljestvica pozitivnog i negativnog perfekcionizma (Terry-Short, Owens, Slade i Dewey, 1995), Rotterova skala unutrašnjeg naprama vanjskom mjestu kontrole potkrepljenja (Rotter, 1966) te pitanja koja su se odnosila na dob i spol sudionika. Dobivena je značajna i negativna povezanost depresije sa samopoštovanjem i pozitivnim perfekcionizmom te značajna i pozitivna povezanost s lokusom kontrole. Drugim riječima, sudionici s izraženijim simptomima depresije procjenjuju svoje samopoštovanje nižim, imaju manje izražen pozitivan perfekcionizam te procjenjuju sebe kao eksternalno orijentiranim u lokusu kontrole. Rezultati provedenih složenih analiza varijanci pokazuju kako nema statistički značajnih razlika između muškaraca i žena, kao ni između dvije dobne skupine u razini depresivnosti, samopoštovanju, perfekcionizmu i lokusu kontrole. Doprinos samopoštovanja, perfekcionizma i lokusa kontrole u objašnjenju rezultata na ljestvici depresivnosti ispitao se multiplom regresijskom analizom te su rezultati pokazali da je samopoštovanje jedina prediktorska varijabla koja značajno doprinosi u objašnjenju depresivnosti.Depression is believed to be one of the most common mental disorders of our day resulting in serious personal, interpersonal and social consequences (Baldwin i Birtwistle, 2002). Therefore, the research of this condition and the factors influencing its development has become of great importance for clinical psychology in order to better understand and prevent occurance of this disease. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between depression, self-esteem, perfectionism and the locus of control and to determine to what extent self-esteem, perfectionism and the locus of control contribute to the explanation of results on the depression scale. The research was conducted on 58 participants (25 men and 33 women) who are being treated for the symptoms of depression at Sveti Ivan Psychiatric Hospital in Zagreb. To measure the aforementioned constructs, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1955), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (Terry-Short, Owens, Slade and Dewey, 1995) and Rotter's Internal-extrenal Locus of control Scale (Rotter, 1966) are used as awell as the questions related to the age and the sex of the participants. The results have shown an important negative association between depression and self-esteem and positive perfectionism and a relevant positive association between depression and locus of control. In other words, the participants with more conspicuous symptoms of depression evaluate their self-esteem as low and have less conspicuous positive perfectionism and they evaluate themselves as externally oriented in the locus of control. The results of the complex variance analysis have shown that there is no statistically important difference neither between men and women nor within two age groups in the level of depressiveness, self-esteem, perfectionism and the locus of control. The contribution of self-esteem, perfectionism and the locus of control to the explanation of results on the scale of depression was questioned by means of multiple regression analysis and the results have shown that self-esteem is the only predictor variable which considerably contributes to the explanation of depression