Self-Derogation and Adjustment to Recent Life Experiences

ANUMBER of theoretical discussions and reports of empirical studies have asserted strong associations between self-rejecting attitudes and experiences of severe subjective distress (operationally distinguished from self-derogation) or other aspects of psychopathology.1(pp202-235),2(pp372-380),3,4Other reports have suggested that the phenomenon of self-derogation plays a strategic role in the process by which (socially defined) deviant roles are adopted and stabilized.4-7These observations imply that investigations of the sociocultural and social-psychological antecedents of self-derogation will at the same time increase understanding of the etiology of a variety of forms of psychosocial deviance. The study under consideration represents such an addition to the growing literature on the correlates of negative self-attitudes.1,8-10This communication presents findings relevant to two general hypotheses. Hypothesis 1.—Self-derogation is a direct function of the number of recent life experiences (reported by the subject) requiring adjustment in behavior patterns. Hypothesis 2.—