Self-criticism, dependency, silencing the self, and loneliness: a test of a mediational model

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Abstract

The current study extended recent research on the relational aspects of self-criticism and dependency by examining their association with individual differences in silencing the self and loneliness. A sample of 167 respondents (including 78 in current romantic relationships) were administered the McGill version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), the Silencing The Self Scale, and measures of loneliness and depression. The results indicated that self-criticism was associated with silencing the self, loneliness, and depression, while dependency was not associated significantly with loneliness. As expected, a mediational model confirmed that silencing the self mediated the link between self-criticism and loneliness, even after taking related individual differences in levels of depression into account. Our findings held generally for people in a current relationship or not in a current relationship, but certain findings highlighted the need to distinguish whether self-silencing is being evaluated within the context of a current relationship. Overall, our results point to self-silencing as a tendency that links depressive orientations and loneliness. The theoretical and practical implications of the associations among personality vulnerabilities, self-silencing, and loneliness are discussed.

Section snippets

Summary and hypotheses

In summary, the present work examined: (1) the links between the depressive personality styles of dependency and self-criticism and silencing the self; (2) the relation of dependency and self-criticism to loneliness; and (3) a model in which the relation between self-criticism and loneliness is mediated by the effect of self-criticism on silencing the self. The following main hypotheses were tested: First, consistent with past research, it was expected that self-criticism and dependency would

Participants

The sample consisted of 167 participants (86 men, 81 women) with a mean age of 21.61 years (S.D.=4.07). The participants were recruited as volunteers from a third year undergraduate psychology at a large university in Ontario, Canada. Overall, 78 participants were currently in romantic relationships and 89 did not have current romantic relationships. No significant differences were found for sex distributions among the subsamples of people in or not in current romantic relationships (χ2=1.67, df

Preliminary analyses

Initially, we explored differences between the two relationship groups. Three 2 × 2 analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted with Sex and Romantic relationships (Groups) as the independent variables and participants’ age as the covariate. CES-D score was the dependent variable in the first ANCOVA, loneliness was the dependent variable in the second ANCOVA, and STSS score was the dependent variable in the third ANCOVA. These analyses yielded no significant main effects or interaction

Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to extend recent research on the psychosocial correlates of dependency and self-criticism by examining how these personality styles relate to loneliness and self-silencing. Consistent with previous research, we found that an introjective, self-critical personality style was associated with elevated levels of loneliness, and there was a less robust association between dependency and loneliness. This pattern of findings is in keeping with two previous studies

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted while the first author was a postdoctoral fellow at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This paper was completed while the first author was at Sapir Academic College, Israel. We wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on a draft of the article and the ideas involved.

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