Identities, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Distress: An Application of Identity-Discrepancy Theory

Social psychological approaches to mental health often emphasize the link between social roles and psychological distress. Idenity theorists, in particular, explain distress in terms of the meanings that roles hold for individuals. This research draws from sociological and psychological models of self and identity to explain how distress arises from discrepancies that occur among aspirations, obligations, and perceptions of role-identities. It also examines the role of self-esteem as both an outcome of identity discrepancies and a buffer in the relationship between identity discrepancy and distress. The results of this study indicate that although discrepancies related to aspirations tend to be associated with lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem, obligation-related identity discrepancies do not predict distress or self-evaluation. As expected, individuals with lower levels of self-esteem suffer more from aspiration-related discrepancies than do individuals with higher levels of self-esteem; however, individuals with higher self-esteem are more reactive to obligation discrepancies. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.