Goals and Depressive Symptoms: Cross-lagged Effects of Cognitive versus Emotional Goal Appraisals

Abstract

Relationships between work goal appraisals and depressive symptoms were investigated in a 2-wave study of health care employees spanning a 2-year period. Crosslagged models were tested and compared in structural equation modeling analyses. The results suggest that the direction of longitudinal relationships between work goal appraisals and depressive symptoms may depend on the nature of the appraisals. In the best-fitting model, goal self-efficacy cognitions predicted depressive symptoms 2 years later. This finding supports cognitive/self-regulatory theories positing that dysfunctional cognitions form a vulnerability factor in the etiology of depressive symptoms. On the other hand, we found no evidence that depressive symptoms predicted goal cognitions. Instead, depressive symptoms were associated with goal-related emotions two years later, suggesting that depressive symptoms may lead over time to greater negative emotional arousal. Implications for depression theory and goal research are discussed.

A longitudinal study of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms in youth of a North American Plains tribe

“…With this advantage in mind, it is worth noting that even our lagged effects cannot be used to definitively rule out potential sources of bias due to time-varying omitted variables. Nonetheless, our findings are a powerful addition to increasingly strong evidence supporting a causal role for self-efficacy in youth mental health; there is now evidence from cross-lagged, between-person models and within-person change models that is consistent with this causal hypothesis (Bandura et al, 1999, 2003; Pomaki et al, 2006).…”

“…A major limitation of all this empirical work on self-efficacy and depression is that it has been based entirely on betweenperson correlations. Even in methodologically sophisticated longitudinal studies (Bandura et al, 1999(Bandura et al, , 2003, it was between-child differences in self-efficacy that predicted between-child differences in both contemporaneous and later depressive symptoms (for similar empirical models estimated using adults; see Pomaki et al, 2006). Longitudinal studies of within-youth associations between changes in self-efficacy and depressive symptoms would add to the field in two important ways.…”

“…In general, though, individuals are thought to become depressed when they doubt their ability to perform actions required for valued outcomes (Ahrens, 1987). In several longitudinal studies with adults, self-efficacy beliefs for parenting (Olioff & Aboud, 1991), work-related goals (Pomaki, ter Doest, & Maes, 2006) and other personally important domains (Olioff, Bryson, & Wadden, 1989) have been found to predict depressive symptoms. Self-efficacy is also thought to influence depression via its impact on social relationships.…”

Calling, Goals, and Life Satisfaction

“…For example, calling has been linked to career self-efficacy strivings (Dik et al, 2008), which are beliefs about one’s capability to achieve career goals (i.e., career goal self-efficacy [CGSE]), and to career decision self-efficacy (Dik & Steger, 2008). Moreover, studies have linked goal self-efficacy to lower levels of depression and anxiety (Karoly, Okun, Ruehlman, & Pugliese, 2008; Offerman, Schroevers, van der Velden, de Boer, & Pruyn, 2006; Pomaki, ter Doest, & Maes, 2006), greater personal growth and positive coping strategies (Kraaij et al, 2008), increased quality of life (Boersma, Maes, Joekes, & Dusseldorp, 2006), and greater career and life satisfaction (Verbruggen & Sels, 2010). Calling has also been linked to increased satisfaction in a number of domains, such as life satisfaction (Duffy, Allan, & Bott, 2012), academic satisfaction (Duffy, Allan, & Dik, 2011), and job satisfaction (Duffy, Dik, & Steger, 2011).…”

Depressive Symptoms and Career-Related Goal Appraisals: Genetic and Environmental Correlations and Interactions

“…In a longitudinal study, Salmela-Aro and Nurmi (1996) found that depressive symptoms were likely to precede negative goal appraisals. Pomaki et al (2006) concluded that poor goal self-efficacy tended to increase depressive symptoms, which in turn could further intensify goal-related negative emotions. However, the origins of the individual differences are not clear.…”