Participants were 1641 first and second year pupils of secondary schools in the Netherlands. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, self-esteem Implicit Association Test and Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale were completed to measure explicit self-esteem, implicit self-esteem and symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), respectively, at baseline and two-year follow-up.
Explicit self-esteem at baseline was associated with symptoms of MDD and SAD at follow-up. Symptomatology at baseline was not associated with explicit self-esteem at follow-up. Implicit self-esteem was not associated with symptoms of MDD or SAD in either direction.
We relied on self-report measures of MDD and SAD symptomatology. Also, findings are based on a non-clinical sample.
Our findings support the vulnerability model, and not the scarring effect model. The implications of these findings suggest support of an explicit self-esteem intervention to prevent increases in MDD and SAD symptomatology in non-clinical adolescents.