(PS3-36) Temporal Self-appraisal as a Vulnerability Factor for Depression: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Cognitive models of depression posit that negative self-appraisals contribute to its development and persistence. Recent research has utilized innovative approaches to studying not just how depressed individuals view themselves in the present, but also how they think about themselves over time. Researchers have found that depressed individuals exhibit a distinct temporal self-appraisal (TSA) pattern, perceiving themselves as deteriorating from the past to the present, in contrast to euthymic individuals who see themselves as improving during this timeframe. Previous research has relied on cross-sectional research designs, and thus it is uncertain whether patterns of TSA are merely products of depressed mood or vulnerability factors that contribute to future levels of depression. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal study using Connect, a multimethod data quality online recruitment platform, to assess the TSA patterns (using a measure of TSA: the TSA Me/Not Me Task) and depression symptoms (using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale – Revised) of dysphoric (N = 84) and non-dysphoric individuals (N = 113) twice over a 3-month period: at baseline (T1) and at a 3-month follow-up (T2). To evaluate whether TSA trajectories prospectively predict future depressive symptoms 3-months later (T2), a hierarchical multiple regression was conducted with baseline depression in the first step and Past-Present TSA in the second step. Baseline depression accounted for 48.7% of the variance of T2 depression. Greater perceived deterioration in Past-Present TSA accounted for a small but significant increase in explained variance in higher depression at T2, controlling for baseline depression (ΔR² = 0.01, ΔF(1, 194)= 5.33, p = .022). However, when Present TSA was added to the model, Past-Present TSA became a non-significant predictor of T2 depression, whereas present TSA accounted for a further significant increase in explained variance (ΔR² = 0.04, ΔF(1, 194)= 18.84, p < .001). The results of this study suggest that past-present self-appraisals predict future depression severity, but not uniquely so when accounting for level of present self-appraisal. It is possible that past self-appraisal influences, and therefore may not be fully distinguishable from, present self-appraisal. Idealization of a past self may sustain and exacerbate current negative self-views, which in turn may lead to and maintain depression symptoms in the future. While further research is warranted to disentangle the influence of past self-view on current self-view, temporal views of self may be an important clinical treatment target for depression beyond present self-appraisal and self-esteem. TSA may also hold clinical utility for screening and identifying individuals at risk for depression. The TSA Me/Not Me Task may be less susceptible to reporting biases and minimization of symptoms due to factors such as fear of stigma or cultural norms than traditional face-valid measures of depressive cognition.