Depression as a Moderator in the Relationship between Direction of Social Comparison and Self Esteem

Abstract

The present study explored the moderator role of depression in the relationship of self esteem and the direction of social comparison in the context of marital relationships among married couples. The relationship between the direction of social comparison and depression was also explored. The sample consisted of 100 married individuals (50 Married Couples) having diverse educational and occupational background and form all the three socio economic background. The sample was taken from different cities of Pakistan. The couples were requested to complete Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Index of Self Esteem (ISE) along with another scale, Social Comparison in Marital Relationship Measure (SCMRM). SCMRM was developed by the researcher to explore the couples’ inclination of comparing their spouses with others around them on different dimension of marital relationship satisfaction. The standardized method was used for the development of SCMRM. The study provided evidence of significant negative relationship of depression with social comparison in marital relationship and with self esteem. The findings also supported the hypothesis that depression will play a role of moderator in the relationship between direction of social comparison in marital relationship and self esteem. Beck's (1967) cognitive model of depression suggested that depressives’ systematic bias against the self is reflected in their tendency to compare themselves with better off others. Thus our results confirm the cognitive depressive model which proposed that depressives engage in dysfunctional social comparison (upward).