Hope and Depression 1
Cited As: Du, H., King, R.B., & Chu, S.K.W. (in press). Hope, social support, and depression
among Hong Kong youth: Personal and relational self-esteem as mediators. Psychology,
Health & Medicine.
Hope, social support, and depression among Hong Kong youth: Personal and relational self-esteem as
mediators
Hongfei Du1, Ronnel B. King2, Samuel K.W. Chu3
1
Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao
2
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong
3
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Corresponding author: Hongfei Du, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao,
China. Tel: +853-8822-4208, Email: dhfpsy@gmail.com
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Health Care and Promotion Fund of the Hong Kong Government.
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Abstract
Previous studies have shown that depression is negatively associated with hope and social support.
However, little research has been undertaken to investigate the theoretical mechanisms underlying the
connections among hope, social support, and depression. This study examined how two types of
self-esteem (personal and relational) would mediate the relationship of hope and social support to
depression among 384 Hong Kong adolescents (age: 12-18 years; M = 14, SD = 1.19). Participants
reported their levels of hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, and
depressive mood. Results of the path analysis showed that both personal and relational self-esteem
mediated the associations of hope and social support with depression. Hope and social support were
associated with higher levels of personal and relational self-esteem, which were in turn related to
decreased levels of depression. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, depression
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Introduction
Adolescence is a crucial developmental period because many adolescents demonstrate
psychological difficulties, including depression (Petersen, 1988; Petersen et al., 1993; Thapar,
Collishaw, Pine, & Thapar, 2012). The current study investigated whether hope and social support can
serve as protective factors against depression and whether self-esteem mediates the relationship of
hope and social support with depression. Hope is the perceived capability to produce pathways to
desired goals and to motivate oneself to use these pathways (Rand & Cheavens, 2009). Successful
goal pursuit leads to more positive emotions. For example, hopeful middle school students were
shown to have less depression (Ashby, Dickinson, Gnilka, & Noble, 2011). An inverse relation
between hope and depression was also found in longitudinal investigations (Arnau, Rosen, Finch,
Rhudy, & Fortunato, 2007).
Aside from hope, adolescents can also draw support from parents and friends to cope with
depression. Adolescents receiving higher levels of social support reported better psychological
well-being (Gaylord-Harden, Ragsdale, Mandara, Richards, & Petersen, 2007; Rueger, Malecki, &
Demaray, 2010). For example, Hong Kong adolescents who sought social support had better mental
health outcomes (Chan, 1995).
Although hope and social support have been considered as protective factors, little is known
about the psychological mechanisms that underlie the relationship of hope and social support to
depression. The literature suggests that both hope and social support enhance self-esteem (Ciarrochi,
Heaven, & Davies, 2007; Du & King, 2013; Du, Li, Chi, Zhao, & Zhao, 2014). Moreover, self-esteem
is an effective positive resource in coping with stress and depression (Tae, Heitkemper, & Kim, 2012).
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Hence, we hypothesized that hope and social support may alleviate depression through enhancing
self-esteem.
Self-esteem can be rooted in one's personal characteristics or relational identity (Tajfel & Turner,
1986). People who have extraordinary skills and talent tend to have higher levels of personal
self-esteem (Tafarodi & Swann, 2001); whereas people who feel that they are valued by their
significant others can gain higher levels of relational self-esteem (Du, King, & Chi, 2012). The
current study will examine whether both personal and relational self-esteem mediate the relationship
of hope and social support to depression. The findings will provide new perspectives for interventions
against depression in terms of a) integrating both individual and collective components in health care
service, b) improving the effectiveness of hope and social support interventions through boosting
self-esteem.
To answer these questions, we examined adolescents in Hong Kong. This population has been
found to have relatively high levels of depression, relative to a comparison group of Western
adolescents (Stewart et al., 1999). We hypothesized that depression would be inversely associated
with hope, social support, personal and relational self-esteem. Hope and social support would be
positively associated with personal and relational self-esteem. With respect to mediation effects, both
personal and relational self-esteem would mediate the relationships between hope and depression, and
between social support and depression.
Methods
Participants
Participants were assessed as part of a larger study among Hong Kong adolescents (Chu et al.,
2015; Law, Du, King, & Chu, 2014). Participants were recruited from three schools in Hong Kong
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through convenience sampling. Informed consent was sought from both the parents and students, and
the institutional board granted ethical approval. Three hundred and eighty four students completed the
survey. Four of participants who reported nationality as non-Chinese were excluded from the analysis,
leaving 380 participants in the current sample (184 females). The mean age is 14 years old (SD = 1.19,
range 12-18 years). Although this convenience sample could not be considered representative of Hong
Kong adolescents, it proved to be a cost-effective approach for reaching this population.
Instruments
Hope was assessed with the 6-item Children’s Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1997). Participants
answered the items on a 6-point scale (1 = none of the time, 6 = all of the time)， with higher mean
scores indicating higher levels of hope (α = .92).
Social support was assessed with the eight items of the Social Support Scale (Zimet, Dahlem,
Zimet, & Farley, 1988) assessing social support from family and friends. Participants answered the
items on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree), with higher mean scores
indicating higher levels of social support (α = .93).
Personal Self-Esteem was assessed with the 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg,
1965). Participants answered the items on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree),
with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of personal self-esteem (α = .77).
Relational Self-Esteem was assessed with the 8-item Relational Self-Esteem Scale (Du et al.,
2012; Du et al., 2014). Participants answered the items on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 =
strongly agree), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of relational self-esteem (α = .88).
Depression was assessed with the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale
(Andresen, Malmgren, Carter, & Patrick, 1994; Radloff, 1977). Participants answered the items on a
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4-point scale (1 = rarely or none of the time/less than 1 day, 4 = most or all of the time/5-7 days), with
higher mean scores indicating higher levels of depression (α = .83).
Results
Table 1 presents the descriptive data and correlations among the variables. Path analysis was
conducted using Mplus 5.1 (Muthén & Muthén, 2008) to test the meditational model. The model (see
Figure 1) provided an excellent fit to the data (χ2 = 3.77, df = 2, p = .15, CFI = 0.996, TLI = .984,
RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.015), explaining 28% of the variance in depression. As expected, both
hope and social support were positively associated with personal and relational self-esteem; while
depression was negatively associated with personal and relational self-esteem. The two types of
self-esteem were also positively associated with each other.
With respect to mediation, in line with our hypotheses, personal self-esteem mediated the effects
of both hope (β = -.16, p < .001) and social support (β = -.10, p < .001) on depression. Relational
self-esteem also mediated the effects of both hope (β = -.05, p = .015) and social support (β = -.06, p
= .014) on depression. In addition, hope had a marginally significant direct effect on depression (β =
-.11, p = .051) and social support did not show a direct effect on depression (β = -.01, p = .849).
Therefore, the two types of self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between hope and
depression and fully mediated the relationship between social support and depression.
Discussion
The current study extended the literature by demonstrating the role of both personal and
relational self-esteem in mediating the link between hope and social support to depression. Moreover,
it showed the importance of relational self-esteem in buffering against depression even after
controlling for the effect of personal self-esteem. Previous studies have shown that social support
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affected depression through personal self-esteem (Symister & Friend, 2003). Relational self-esteem is
a distinct construct yet it is closely associated with personal self-esteem (Du, Bernardo, & Yeung,
2015). Our findings suggest that when people have a positive future outlook and receive support from
others, they are less likely to become depressed because of enhanced personal and relational
self-esteem. Future studies should consider the impact of relational self-esteem on mental health
among vulnerable populations, such as people with psychological disorders or physical illnesses.
The current study had several limitations. We used a convenience sample so that the findings may
not be generalized to all Hong Kong adolescents. The data is cross-sectional, which limits us from
making causal inferences about the associations among the variables. In addition, participants
themselves are the only informant of their mental health status in this study. Collecting data from
multiple informants (e.g., parents and teachers) would reduce common method variance and increase
the opportunities to identify adolescents with mental health problems.
Our findings suggest that intervention programs addressing depression may need to focus on
helping adolescents recognize their own sense of worth through their personal accomplishments
(personal self-esteem) and social relationships (relational self-esteem). Programs that focus on raising
participants' levels of hope and their sense of social belongingness may be especially effective.
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Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations for measures
Variables
1
1. Hope
2
3
4
5
1
2. Social support
.44***
1
3. Personal self-esteem
.43***
.36***
1
4. Relational self-esteem
.59***
.62***
.45***
1
-.21***
-.25***
-.52***
-.33***
1
Mean
3.85
3.76
2.68
2.98
0.81
SD
1.00
0.72
0.41
0.44
0.56
5. Depression
Note. *** p < .001.
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Hope
Personal
self-esteem
.34***
-.46***
.22***
Depression
.19***
.39***
-.12*
Social support
.44***
Relational
self-esteem
Figure 1. Path model with hope, social support, personal self-esteem, relational self-esteem, and depression. CFI = 0.996, TLI = .984, RMSEA = 0.049,
SRMR = 0.015. *p < .05; *** p < .001.
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