Jürgen Maes

Low self-esteem is a risk factor for depressive symptoms from young adulthood to old age.

Data from two large longitudinal studies were used to analyze reciprocal relations between self-esteem and depressive symptoms across the adult life span. Study 1 included 1,685 participants aged 18 to 96 years assessed 4 times over a 9-year period. Study 2 included 2,479 participants aged 18 to 88 years assessed 3 times over a 4-year period. In both studies, cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem predicted subsequent depressive symptoms, but depressive symptoms did not predict subsequent levels of self-esteem. This pattern of results replicated across all age groups, for both affective-cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression, and after controlling for content overlap between the self-esteem and depression scales. The results suggest that low self-esteem operates as a risk factor for depressive symptoms at all phases of the adult life span.

The Motivational Bases of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation: Relations to Values and Attitudes in the Aftermath of September 11, 2001

Research suggests that different motivational dynamics underlie right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). These differences may be framed in the theory of basic human values. RWA may trace back to conservation versus openness-to-change values, and SDO to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values. Based on a large-scale German survey, associations of RWA and SDO with personal values and attitudes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, were analyzed. Results indicated that RWA related more strongly than SDO to conservation values and threat-related attitudes toward Islam as an expression of the motivational goals of social control and security, whereas RWA and SDO related equally to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values and concern for negative consequences of military action as an expression of the motivational goal of altruistic concern. Thus, the motivational bases of RWA and SDO appear to be only partly different.

Vorschlag zur Vereinfachung des Beck-Depressions-Inventars (BDI)

Zusammenfassung. Um die Okonomie des Beck-Depressions-Inventars zu verbessern, wird die Itemzahl von 84 auf 20 gekurzt. Fur jedes Symptom wird nur ein Item verwendet. Das Gewichtssymptom entfallt. Die Intensitatsskalierung erfolgt uber sechsstufige Anwortskalen, auf denen die Symptomhaufigkeit eingeschatzt wird. Die Meseigenschaften des modifizierten BDI wurden an einer Stichprobe von 2500 Probanden untersucht. Die interne Konsistenz der Skala betragt = .90. Latent-State-Trait-Analysen ergeben eine sehr gute Reliabilitat des Summenwertes (.95), eine hohe Trait-Konsistenz uber einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren (.64), eine deutliche Mesgelegenheitsspezifitat (.26) sowie eine geringe Methodenspezifitat (.05). Korrelationen des modifzierten BDI mit anderen Indikatoren des Wohlbefindens, mit demographischen Variablen, mit der objektiven und subjektiven Qualitat der eigenen beruflichen Situation, mit dem Glauben an eine gerechte und eine ungerechte Welt, mit Kontrollierbarkeitsuberzeugungen und mit Einschatzungen ...

Sustainable Development and Emotions

To establish national and worldwide sustainable development, changes in individual behavior patterns and decision-making processes are necessary. We argue that environment-specific cognitions and emotions are decisive for sustainable behavior and environment endangering decisions. Data show that the influential cognitions and emotions do not represent a self centered, but rather a moral perspective. Cognitions like environment-specific control beliefs, ecological responsibility attributions, environmental justice appraisals and environment-specific moral emotions, such as indignation about insufficient sustainable political decision-making, are the most powerful predictors for sustainable behavior. Other emotional categories, for example, emotional affinity towards nature, have additional effects. In sum, the neglected emotional perspective on sustainable behavior needs to be included on the level of model building, as well as on the practical level of intervention programs. Corresponding guidelines are formulated at the end of the chapter.

Normwerte für das Vereinfachte Beck-Depressions-Inventar (BDI-V) in der Allgemeinbevölkerung

Zusammenfassung. Anhand einer Stichprobe von N = 4494 Personen (2418 Manner, 2076 Frauen) wurden Normwerte (Prozentrange, T-Werte, z-Werte) fur das vereinfachte Beck-Depressions-Inventar (BDI-V) ermittelt. In Varianzanalysen mit den Faktoren Alter und Geschlecht waren die beiden Haupteffekte und die Interaktion signifikant. Alle drei Effekte waren klein. Das Geschlecht erklarte 1.5% der BDI-V-Varianz, das Alter je nach Gruppierung zwischen 0.6% und 2.3%, die Interaktion je nach Altersgruppierung zwischen 0.4% und 2.1%. Wegen des signifikanten und in allen Altersgruppen konsistenten Geschlechtsunterschieds wurde auser unspezifischen Normen auch getrennte Normen fur Manner und Frauen ermittelt. Auf eine altersspezifische Normierung wurden wegen zu geringer Grosen geschlechtsspezifischer Altersgruppen verzichtet. Basierend auf den Stichproben einer fruheren Untersuchung (Schmitt, Beckmann, Dusi, Maes, Schiller & Schonauer, 2003) werden die Sensitivitat und die Spezifitat des BDI-V fur verschiedene cut-off-We...

Messgüte des vereinfachten Beck-Depressions-Inventars (BDI-V)

Zusammenfassung. An einer demographisch heterogenen Gelegenheitsstichprobe (n = 200) und drei klinischen Stichproben (Major Depressive Disorder, n = 60; Angst- und Essstorungen, n = 11; Schizophren...

More on Ultimate and Immanent Justice: Results from the Research Project “Justice as a Problem within Reunified Germany”

In earlier studies it was shown that two domain-specific variates of belief in a just world, namely belief in immanent justice and belief in ultimate justice concerning severe illness, differ systematically and significantly. Only immanent justice leads to accusation and derogation of innocent victims while ultimate justice is concordant with positive evaluations of victims and helping behavior. With regard to the research project “Justice as a Problem within Reunified Germany” (GiP, from the German “Gerechtigkeit als innerdeutsches Problem”), two new scales were developed for purposes of measuring general belief in immanent and ultimate justice. Using a sample of 929 West Germans and 1,275 East Germans, some of the correlation patterns found in earlier studies could be replicated. For example, immanent justice did correlate with draconian judgments (the proneness to strict and severe judgments), while ultimate justice was associated with mildness. Only ultimate justice correlated with existential guilt about the underprivileged. Beside this confirmation of earlier findings, new correlation patterns were revealed. For example, only immanent justice correlated with the equity principle, whereas ultimate justice corresponded to the need and equality principles.

Synergistic Person × Situation Interaction in Distributive Justice Behavior

A person × situation interaction is synergistic when a personality trait amplifies the effect of a situational factor. The present study tested how individuals’ justice attitudes and situational factors jointly affect the allocation of financial burdens. Six insurance cases were described to 80 participants. Economic status of client (high, low) and responsibility of client for damage of the insured (high, low) were manipulated between subjects. Participants suggested a percentage of the total costs that they considered a fair contribution by the client. In accordance with the synergistic model, justice attitude (person factor) and responsibility for damage (situation factor) interacted and explained 5% of the variance of the dependent variable. With increasing negativity of attitude toward equality, the effect of responsibility was larger. Several cognitive mechanisms, such as motivated perception, selective attention, and the availability of attitude congruent situation schemas, that may account for synergistic interactions in justice behavior and in other domains were discussed.

Blaming the victim: Belief in control or belief in justice?

The attribution of responsibility to victims of bad fate (“blaming the victim”) is discussed under the perspective of Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980) and the Defensive Attribution Hypothesis (Walster, 1966; Shaver, 1970). Whereas Just World Theory suggests that the belief in a just world is the decisive motive of increased attributions of responsibility, the Defensive Attribution Hypothesis assumes that these attributions are motivated by the need to believe in internal locus of control. Research evidence shows both motives as conceptually linked and empirically correlated. The central question is whether belief in a just world and belief in internal control are facets of the same latent variable or empirically distinguishable constructs, and whether they contribute independently to attributions of responsibility and blame to victims of misfortune. Results of a questionnaire study assessing opinions about cancer and cancer victims are reported. There is evidence from factor analyses that the two motives are indeed distinguishable constructs. The correlation patterns and the results of multiple regression analyses show that both motives are meaningfully related to attributions of responsibility. Moreover, it is suggested that belief in a just world is not a homogeneous construct. Belief in immanent justice according to which present misfortune is seen as a consequence of prior faults and sins is differentiated from belief in ultimate justice according to which one can be sure that present misfortune will be compensated in the long run. Whereas belief in immanent justice is the most important predictor for attributions of responsibility, the suggested emotional consequences of such attributions, like belief in invulnerability or confidence in coping, can be predicted by belief in internal control and belief in ultimate justice. Finally, suggestions are made to extend Just World Theory to clarify the function of justice motives in the persons search for meaning in his or her life.

Self-Esteem Development across the Life Span: A Longitudinal Study with a Large Sample from Germany.

The authors examined the development of self-esteem across the life span. Data came from a German longitudinal study with 3 assessments across 4 years of a sample of 2,509 individuals ages 14 to 89 years. The self-esteem measure used showed strong measurement invariance across assessments and birth cohorts. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem follows a quadratic trajectory across the life span, increasing during adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood, reaching a peak at age 60 years, and then declining in old age. No cohort effects on average levels of self-esteem or on the shape of the trajectory were found. Moreover, the trajectory did not differ across gender, level of education, or for individuals who had lived continuously in West versus East Germany (i.e., the 2 parts of Germany that had been separate states from 1949 to 1990). However, the results suggested that employment status, household income, and satisfaction in the domains of work, relationships, and health contribute to a more positive life span trajectory of self-esteem. The findings have significant implications, because they call attention to developmental stages in which individuals may be vulnerable because of low self-esteem (such as adolescence and old age) and to factors that predict successful versus problematic developmental trajectories.