Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Theses
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ItemThe role of self-focused attention, self-discrepancies, and self-efficacy, in anxiety and depression( 2000)The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between the following aspects of self: self-focused attention, Higgin's (1987) notion of self-discrepancies, and Bandura's (1977) concept of self-efficacy, and participants' emotional experiences of anxiety and depression. These variables were assessed in relation to Duval and Wicklund's (1972) theory of objective self-awareness, and Carver and Scheier's (1981) control theory. The existence of mediating and/or moderating relationships was expected. One hundred and eighty-five University of Melbourne students participated in the study. Four questionnaires were administered: the self-consciousness scale (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975), a measure of self-discrepancies (Donaghue & Boldero, 1996), including measures of specific self-efficacy, the self-efficacy scale (Sherer, Maddux, Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs, & Rogers, 1982), and the neo personality inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985). Contrary to expectations, both private and public self-focused attention were predictors of both anxiety and depression. Actual-ideal self-discrepancy magnitude predicted both anxiety and depression, while actual-ought self-discrepancy magnitude only predicted anxiety when the variance accounted for by public self-focused attention was partialled from the regression equation. Self-efficacy was a predictor of both anxiety and depression, although self-efficacy specific to reducing self-discrepancies was only predictive of anxiety. No mediating or moderating relationships were found. The role of these different aspects of self as contributors to the experience of anxiety and depression is discussed with reference to current models and the implications for therapeutic management of these syndromes.