Individual differences in shame and depressive symptoms during early adolescence

Previous research suggests a link between shame and depression in adolescence; however, the mechanisms of this relationship are unclear. This study examined a mediation model of shame-proneness and depressive symptoms in adolescents, using avoidant coping as a mediating variable. Eighty-nine girls and 52 boys (age 11–16) completed a series of web-based questionnaires measuring shame-proneness, depressive symptoms, and avoidant coping. Forty-six of these participants (29 girls and 17 boys) completed the questionnaires again during one-year follow-up. With regard to the cross-sectional sample, girls reported more depressive symptoms than boys; however, there were no significant gender differences with regard to reports of shame-proneness or use of avoidant coping strategies. Shame-proneness was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, accounting for 30% of the variance in depressive symptoms, and avoidant coping was a significant partial mediator of this relationship. Longitudinal analyses revealed that reports of shame-proneness and depressive symptoms were moderately stable over time, and that avoidant coping was a full mediator of the longitudinal relationship between shame-proneness at Time 1, and depressive symptoms at one-year follow-up. Results suggest that how individuals cope with shame is important in predicting depressive symptoms.