Abstract
Background: A key developmental task in adolescence is social self-concept development. Adolescence is also a period of heightened risk for internalizing psychopathology, particularly depression. While prior research has found links between self-processing and depression, social self-concept remains understudied and the causal direction of these associations remains unclear. Methods: Data come from a longitudinal study of adolescent girls (N = 172, aged 10-13 at baseline, ~18-month inter-wave intervals). Results: We show that negative social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms display longitudinal, reciprocal associations across four waves of data spanning early to late adolescence. Additionally, while self-negativity increased over time, self-positivity did not change, and both aspects of self-perception were independently associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that social self-evaluation and depressive symptoms mutually influence each other across adolescence, and that negative social self-evaluation may be a useful intervention target for preventing and treating depressive psychopathology among adolescents.