Effects of congruent and incongruent appetitive and aversive well-being comparisons on depression, post-traumatic stress, and self-esteem

Background: People compare their current well-being to different comparison standards (e.g. social or temporal comparisons). These standards are considered as aversive if perceived as threatening to self-motives or appetitive if perceived as consistent with self-motives. However, it remains unknown whether the congruence (vs. incongruence) of aversive and appetitive well-being comparisons (high levels of both vs. preponderance of aversive comparisons over appetitive comparisons) is differentially related to symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and self-esteem.

Methods: We conducted response surface analysis (RSA) on data from a study with two-timepoints three months apart (N = 921). RSA tests whether the degree of (in-)congruence of two variables is positively or negatively related to an outcome variable. Here, baseline aversive and appetitive well-being comparisons (comparison frequency, discrepancy, and affective impact) served as the two predictor variables, while depression, PTSD, and self-esteem three months later served as outcomes.

Results: Findings partially confirmed our hypotheses. Congruently high (vs. low) levels of aversive and appetitive comparison frequency and discrepancy predicted more depressive/PTSD symptoms and lower self-esteem. Some evidence indicated more pronounced depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem (but not PTSD) for the preponderance of aversive over appetitive comparisons.

Conclusions: The effects of congruent and incongruent aversive and appetitive comparisons as well as a potentially more crucial role of aversive than appetitive well-being comparisons in depression and self-esteem align with comparison theory.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Frequent social and other forms of comparison may increase risks for depression, PTSD, and low self-esteem. Comparisons may be defined as aversive if they threaten self-motives and as appetitive if they align with self-motives.
• While some people have congruent high or low levels of both aversive and appetitive comparisons, others may have incongruent levels of aversive and appetitive comparisons (e.g. engage mostly in aversive comparisons). We examined whether the levels of congruence vs. incongruence of aversive and appetitive well-being comparisons are related to depression, PTSD, and self-esteem.
• We found that congruent levels of aversive and appetitive comparisons and a predominance of aversive comparisons predicted worse outcomes. Both aversive and appetitive comparisons were relevant to PTSD severity.