THE RELATIONSHIP OF GENDER, SELF-ESTEEM, AND INSTRUMENTALITY TO DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY

The relationships among several variables that have been hypothesized to be related to gender differences in depression were examined. In tw o studies, subjects completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Instrumentality subscale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Regression analyses sugge sted that instrumentality and self-esteem are not tapping the same con struct. In fact, these two variables were found to interact such that there was little difference in depressive symptomatology for persons h igh in instrumentality, regardless of level of self-esteem; for person s low in instrumentality, high levels of self-esteem were associated w ith reduced depressive symptomatology. Further, there was a significan tly stronger relationship between self-esteem and depressive symptoms for females than was the case for males.