TY - JOUR
T1 - Explicit and implicit self-esteem and their associations with symptoms of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents
AU - Wiechert, Sera
AU - van Bockstaele, Bram
AU - Vertregt, Maaike
AU - van Marwijk, Lotte
AU - Maric, Marija
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Negative self-esteem is an important transdiagnostic factor underlying various youth psychological problems. Most studies so far have examined the role of more conscious, explicit self-esteem, assessed with self-report questionnaires. Our study investigated the role of explicit as well as implicit self-esteem (with Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale and the implicit association test, respectively), and the nature of their interaction in explaining children’s and adolescents’ internalizing symptomatology. Self-esteem, depression, and anxiety symptoms were assessed in 279 youths (mean age: 13.92; 52% females). Explicit self-esteem (ESE) was consistently negatively related to internalizing symptoms, whereas implicit self-esteem (ISE) was not. For DSM-related anxiety symptoms, the interaction between ISE and ESE was significant: in youths who displayed low to average ESE, higher ISE predicted more anxiety symptoms, whereas for youths with high ESE, increased ISE was associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. Overall, our results suggest that explicit self-esteem is an important factor in explaining internalizing symptomatology for children and adolescents.
AB - Negative self-esteem is an important transdiagnostic factor underlying various youth psychological problems. Most studies so far have examined the role of more conscious, explicit self-esteem, assessed with self-report questionnaires. Our study investigated the role of explicit as well as implicit self-esteem (with Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale and the implicit association test, respectively), and the nature of their interaction in explaining children’s and adolescents’ internalizing symptomatology. Self-esteem, depression, and anxiety symptoms were assessed in 279 youths (mean age: 13.92; 52% females). Explicit self-esteem (ESE) was consistently negatively related to internalizing symptoms, whereas implicit self-esteem (ISE) was not. For DSM-related anxiety symptoms, the interaction between ISE and ESE was significant: in youths who displayed low to average ESE, higher ISE predicted more anxiety symptoms, whereas for youths with high ESE, increased ISE was associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. Overall, our results suggest that explicit self-esteem is an important factor in explaining internalizing symptomatology for children and adolescents.
KW - Explicit self-esteem
KW - implicit self-esteem
KW - psychopathology
KW - youth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161385894&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17405629.2023.2216447
DO - 10.1080/17405629.2023.2216447
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85161385894
SN - 1740-5629
VL - 20
SP - 823
EP - 838
JO - European Journal of Developmental Psychology
JF - European Journal of Developmental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -