Depression and Self-Concept: Personality Traits or Coping Styles in Reaction to School Retention of Hispanic Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether depression and self-concept could be construed as personality characteristics and/or coping styles in reaction to school retention or being held back a grade. The participants in this study were 156 urban Hispanic adolescents, ages 12–18, and of these, 51 or 33% had been retained in school. Students who had been retained reported a lower self-concept score, higher GPA, and higher rates of depression, and they were more likely to be male than students who had not been retained. The findings of this study indicated that self-concept was a personality characteristic that, due to its malleability, is also a coping style in regards to retention with this Hispanic adolescent population.

“To be or not to be Retained … That’s the Question!” Retention, Self-esteem, Self-concept, Achievement Goals, and Grades

“…Being held back a grade may constitute a rather negative psychological experience for students ( Robles-Piña, 2011 ), affecting their self-image and their self-perception of competence and confidence, their achievement and performance, and strongly increasing the probability of school dropout ( Jimerson et al, 2002 ). Given this, it is important to understand the relationship between grade retention and the students’ affective components of learning, such as self-efficacy beliefs, self-esteem, self-concept, values, or motivation.…”

“…On the other hand a large number of studies report the negative effects of being retained on the affective components of learning ( Martin, 2011 ; Robles-Piña, 2011 ; Goos et al, 2013 ; Lamote et al, 2014 ). Goos et al (2013) have found that first-grade repeaters seem to be behind in several psychosocial skills, for at least a part of their primary education when compared to their similarly at-risk grade-mates who got promoted.…”

“… Martin (2011) has also found that grade retention is a significant negative predictor of academic self-concept and of self-esteem and these negative effects persist in follow-up analyses using a sub-sample of retained and promoted students matched by ability and gender. Additionally, Robles-Piña (2011) has found that although those adolescents who had been retained presented higher GPA, they also reported a lower self-concept and higher rates of depression. Indeed, in this study self-concept was a stronger predictor of student retention status than GPA.…”

“…Overall, these findings highlight the stressful nature of retention and suggest that the positive short-term effects of being retained observed in some cases, tend to decrease or even disappear in the long-term. Given these results, Robles-Piña (2011) argued that retention should be revisited from the perspective of mental health outcomes and well-being perspectives, rather than solely focusing on student academic outcomes.…”

A blunted sympathetic and accentuated parasympathetic response to postural change in subjects with depressive disorders

“…The psychiatric diagnosis of depressive disorder in each patient was verified by a psychiatrist using criteria based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM IV), and each subject's history of psychiatric illness, medical disease, and medication use was evaluated by an interview and a medical chart review carefully (Robles-Pina, 2011;Vignatelli et al, 2005). Subjects were screened and excluded if they suffered from other serious psychiatric, somatic or sleep disorders, or they had a comorbid substance-related disorder.…”