| Abstract | Neusklađeni pojam o sebi povezan je s različitim psihičkim poteškoćama poput depresije i anksioznosti te spoznaje u tom području imaju značajne doprinose unutar savjetodavne i kliničke prakse. Od kraja 20. stoljeća provedena su mnoga istraživanja te su rezultati vezani uz povezanost neusklađenosti u realnom i idealnom ja s depresivnošću prilično jednoznačni. No, rezultati o povezanosti neusklađenosti u realnom i traženom ja sa socijalnom anksioznošću daju kontradiktorne nalaze. Znatno je manje radova koji tu vezu potvrđuju, a dio daje suprotne rezultate koji ukazuju na to da je ta neusklađenost više vezana uz depresivnost nego uz socijalnu anksioznost. Kako još uvijek postoji znatan broj radova koji tu vezu potvrđuju, te je uočeno da postoje velike razlike u definiranju značajnog drugog u odnosu na kojeg se procjenjuje traženo ja, provedeno istraživanje razjašnjava nedosljednosti u dosadašnjim spoznajama. Cilj istraživanja bio je ustanoviti postoji li razlika u vezi neusklađenog realnog ja i traženog ja s depresivnošću i anksioznošću ovisno o tome tko je značajni drugi – roditelj ili vršnjak. Pretpostavljeno je da je samokompetentnost posredujuća varijabla u vezi između neusklađenosti u realnom i traženom ja od strane roditelja i depresivnosti te samosviđanje u vezi između neusklađenosti u realnom i traženom ja od strane vršnjaka i socijalne anksioznosti. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 543 srednjoškolca iz Zagreba i Zagrebačke županije korištenjem upitnika za mjerenje depresivnosti, socijalne anksioznosti, neusklađene slike o sebi i samopoštovanja. Postavljene hipoteze testirane su korištenjem stupnjevite regresijske analize i medijacijske analize. Nalazi istraživanja potvrđuju pozitivne povezanosti između svih neusklađenosti i psihičkih poteškoća, kao i između dviju dimenzija samopoštovanja, a negativne između neusklađenosti i poteškoća s dimenzijama samopoštovanja. Pokazalo se da su neusklađenost u realnom i idealnom te traženom ja od strane roditelja značajne odrednice depresivnosti uz samokompetentnost kao posredujuću varijablu. Neusklađenost u realnom i traženom ja od strane vršnjaka značajna je odrednica socijalne anksioznosti, a još je značajnija u predikciji socijalne anksioznosti neusklađena realna i idealna slika o sebi uz posredujuću varijablu samosviđanja. |
| Abstract (english) | The discrepancy in self-concept is associated with various psychological consequences such as depression and anxiety, and the knowledge in this area has significant contributions within counselling and clinical practice. Since the late 20th century, many researche have been conducted, and the results associated with the correlation of discrepancy in actual and ideal self and depression are quite unequivocal. On the other hand, the findings about the correlation of discrepancy in actual and ought-self and social anxiety are contradictory. There are significantly fewer papers that confirm this correlation, and some give the opposite results, that this discrepancy is more related to depression than to social anxiety. Given the fact that there is still a significant number of papers that confirm this correlation, and it has been noticed that there are large differences in defining the significant other in relation to which the ought-self is evaluated, the conducted research attempted to clarify the lack of consencus in the present knowledge. It has been noted that in the existing papers the ought-self has been defined as the expectations what we should be in relation to our significant others. However, nowhere are these significant others clearly defined. The main purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a difference in correlation of discrepant actual and ought-self with depression and anxiety depending on who the significant other is - the parent or the peer. In this respect, apart from the descriptive aspect (self-concept), we have also studied the evaluative aspect of selfconcept, i.e. self-esteem, and we checked what is happening with self-esteem when there is a discrepancy in self-concept. We assume that in both situations when there is a discrepancy between the self-concept and ought-self, the self-esteem decreases, but not the same component of self-esteem is decreased. According to Tafarodi and Swann (2001), self-esteem consists of self-liking, which is socially conditioned and is related to appearance, character, social identity, etc., and self-competence associated with performance and perception of ability. Our main premise is that the discrepancy between the actual and the ought-self, when the significant other is the parent, is associated with decreased self-esteem in terms of perception of one's own competence and when it comes to peers with decreased self-liking.The basic expected contribution of this paper is the expansion of Higgins' theory of selfdiscrepancy in terms of clarifying the ought-self construct and connecting the entire theory with self-esteem. With this work we also checked the importance of differentiating the dimension of self-esteem. The practical contribution of this research is to apply the knowledge in planning interventions and counselling work with adolescents and their families. Methodology The research was conducted on a sample of 543 high school students from Zagreb and the Zagreb County after obtaining a principal's approval for conducting research in a particular school. The participants completed the Self Concept Questionnaire – Conventional Version (Watson, 2001), BDI II (Beck, Steer and Brown 1996), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale -LSASSR (Liebowitz, 1987), translated and validated in preliminary research, for the purpose of this research, and SLCS-R (Tafarodi and Swann, 2001) in the order listed. All respondents completed two versions of the ought-self assessment on the scale from Self Concept Questionnaire-Conventional Version (Watson, 2001), one from the perspective of the parent and one from the peer perspective. The set hypotheses were tested using a stepwise regression analysis and mediation analysis.
Results The research results confirm that self-discrepancy, the dimension of self-esteem and emotional consequences are interrelated. We have confirmed the existence of a positive correlation between all discrepancies and psychological difficulties, as well as between the two dimensions of self-esteem to each other, and the negative between the self-discrepancy and difficulties with the dimensions of self-esteem. It has been shown that all self-discrepancies are significant determinants of depression and that the discrepancy in actual and ideal-self and actual and ought-self by the parent better predict depression than the discrepancy between actual and ought-self by peers. As we expected, the predictivity of discrepancy between actual and ought-self by peers is more pronounced than the discrepancy between the actual and ought-self by parents for social anxiety. On the other hand, there was no anticipated predictive value of discrepancy between the actual and ought-self by parent. For the prediction of social anxiety, it was found that the discrepancy between the actual and ideal-self is more significant than the expected discrepancy in actual and ought-self by peers. Self-competence is found to be a mediating variable in relation between the discrepancy in actual and ought-self by parents and depression, as wll as in relation between the discrepancy in actual and ideal-self with depression. On the other hand self-liking is mediation variable in relation between the actual and the ideal-self with social anxiety.
Conclusion
It has been shown that defining the significant other as a peer or a parent in assessing the discrepancy in actual and ought-self plays an important role in defining this variable as a determinant of depression or social anxiety. Based on the results obtained in social anxiety, the important determinant is the discrepancy between the actual and ought-self by the peers, but not by the parent. In depression, both variables are significant determinants, but the discrepancy between the actual and ought-self by the parent has greater predictability. All this, and the mediating role of self-competence and self-liking in explaining the correlation of selfdiscrepancy, depression and social anxiety, in addition to complementing Higgins' selfdiscrepancy theory and pointing to the importance of differentiating the dimension of selfesteem, may have interesting contribution in dealing with depressive and anxious individuals, especially those in the adolescence period. |
