Adolescence is a period of significant identity development and particular vulnerability to depression associated with negative self-evaluation. We investigated if increased depressive symptom severity was also associated with positive self-evaluation. We also considered pubertal developmental differences in positive and negative self-evaluation, and if these could reflect dissociated facets of the self. This cross-sectional sample consisted of healthy male and female adolescents (N = 109) aged 12–17 from the United States. Participants completed a self-referential encoding task, which required them to indicate if a single-word adjective was self-descriptive. We administered the Children’s Depression Inventory, the Pubertal Development Scale, and the Child Narcissism Scale. Negative-word endorsement was significantly predicted by pubertal maturation level and depressive symptoms, but not by narcissism. Positive-word endorsement was significantly predicted by narcissism and negatively predicted by depressive symptoms, but not by pubertal maturation. In this typically developing sample, positive self-judgment does not vary across the pubertal range and is positively associated with narcissistic traits, and negatively associated with depressive symptom severity. Negative self-judgements are positively correlated with puberty and are associated with depressive symptom severity only. Our findings suggest that negative and positive aspects of the self are partially dissociable.

中文翻译：

---

青春期积极自我，消极自我：有联系却是分离的？

青春期是一个重要的身份发展时期，尤其容易遭受与负面自我评价相关的抑郁症。我们调查了抑郁症状严重程度的增加是否也与积极的自我评估有关。我们还考虑了正面和负面自我评估中的青春期发育差异，以及这些差异是否可以反映自我的各个方面。该横截面样本由来自美国的12至17岁的健康男性和女性青少年（N = 109）组成。参与者完成了自我参照编码任务，要求他们指出单个单词形容词是否具有自我描述性。我们管理了儿童抑郁量表，青春期发育量表和儿童自恋量表。否定词的认可是由青春期成熟水平和抑郁症状显着预测的，但不是由自恋引起的。自恋显着预测正词支持，而抑郁症状则负预测，而青春期成熟则不然。在这个通常发育的样本中，阳性自我判断在整个青春期范围内没有变化，与自恋特征呈正相关，与抑郁症状的严重程度呈负相关。负面的自我判断与青春期呈正相关，并且仅与抑郁症状的严重程度有关。我们的发现表明，自我的消极和积极方面是部分可分离的。自恋显着预测正词支持，而抑郁症状则负预测，而青春期成熟则不然。在这个通常发育的样本中，阳性自我判断在整个青春期范围内没有变化，与自恋特征呈正相关，与抑郁症状的严重程度呈负相关。负面的自我判断与青春期呈正相关，并且仅与抑郁症状的严重程度有关。我们的发现表明，自我的消极和积极方面是部分可分离的。自恋显着预测正词支持，而抑郁症状则负预测，而青春期成熟则不然。在这个通常发育的样本中，阳性自我判断在整个青春期范围内没有变化，与自恋特征呈正相关，与抑郁症状的严重程度呈负相关。负面的自我判断与青春期呈正相关，并且仅与抑郁症状的严重程度有关。我们的发现表明，自我的消极和积极方面是部分可分离的。负面的自我判断与青春期呈正相关，并且仅与抑郁症状的严重程度有关。我们的发现表明，自我的消极和积极方面是部分可分离的。负面的自我判断与青春期呈正相关，并且仅与抑郁症状的严重程度有关。我们的发现表明，自我的消极和积极方面是部分可分离的。