Psychological Reports, 1990, 67,410. O Psychological Reports 1990
SELF-MONITORING, DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION DAVID LESTER
Richard Stockton State College'
Self-monitoring is a personality style whlch measures the extent to which people manage their public presentation (Snyder, 1974). High selfmonitors assess social situations and tailor their behavior to fit their perceptions of the situation. Self-monitoring scores are associated with social skills (Anderson, 1987), and this study explored the association of self-monitoring with depression and suicidal behavior. The self-monitoring scale was given along with the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) to 46 men and 99 women ages 17 to 23 yr. (M,,, = 19.8, SD = 2.2) and enrolled in undergraduate courses. Their mean scores (and SDs) were 6.6 (5.6) for depression and 12.5 (4.1) for self-monitoring. Self-monitoring scores were not associated with depression scores (Pearson r = 0.12), the item concerned with current suicidal ideation (r = 0.07), or an history of prior suicidal ideation, threats, or attempts (rs = 0.06, 0.06 and -0.04, respectively). The eight respondents who had previously attempted suicide were matched for age, sex, and depression scores with eight nonsuicidal individuals, but they did not differ on self-monitoring scores (t,= 0.71). Thus, this study indicated no associations between self-monitoring scores and depression. REFERENCES ANDERSON, L. R. (1987) Correlates of self-monitoring, sex-role typing, and social skills in New Zealand and the United States soc. Psychol., 127, 677-679. BECK,A. T.,WARD,C., MENDELSON, M , MOCK,J., & ERBAUGH, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Arch. gen Psychiat., 4 , 561-571. SNYDER,M. (1974) Self-monitoring of expressive behaviors. J. Pers. soc. Psychol., 30, 526-537.
Accepted August 1, 1990.
SELF-MONITORING, DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION DAVID LESTER
Richard Stockton State College'
Self-monitoring is a personality style whlch measures the extent to which people manage their public presentation (Snyder, 1974). High selfmonitors assess social situations and tailor their behavior to fit their perceptions of the situation. Self-monitoring scores are associated with social skills (Anderson, 1987), and this study explored the association of self-monitoring with depression and suicidal behavior. The self-monitoring scale was given along with the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) to 46 men and 99 women ages 17 to 23 yr. (M,,, = 19.8, SD = 2.2) and enrolled in undergraduate courses. Their mean scores (and SDs) were 6.6 (5.6) for depression and 12.5 (4.1) for self-monitoring. Self-monitoring scores were not associated with depression scores (Pearson r = 0.12), the item concerned with current suicidal ideation (r = 0.07), or an history of prior suicidal ideation, threats, or attempts (rs = 0.06, 0.06 and -0.04, respectively). The eight respondents who had previously attempted suicide were matched for age, sex, and depression scores with eight nonsuicidal individuals, but they did not differ on self-monitoring scores (t,= 0.71). Thus, this study indicated no associations between self-monitoring scores and depression. REFERENCES ANDERSON, L. R. (1987) Correlates of self-monitoring, sex-role typing, and social skills in New Zealand and the United States soc. Psychol., 127, 677-679. BECK,A. T.,WARD,C., MENDELSON, M , MOCK,J., & ERBAUGH, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Arch. gen Psychiat., 4 , 561-571. SNYDER,M. (1974) Self-monitoring of expressive behaviors. J. Pers. soc. Psychol., 30, 526-537.
Accepted August 1, 1990.
