Presentatie Masterthese - Margreet Erhart - Ontwikkelingspsycholgie

Depression is one of the most common mental health diseases and poses a serious health risk for individuals suffering from it. Depressive symptoms are most prevalent among young adults between 18-29. In this study an attempt was made at finding a partial explanation for the heightened depressive symptomatology in this age group, by investigating whether there was a relationship between identity confusion and depression in a group of 157 young adults (age: 18-30). It was also investigated whether the relationship between identity confusion and depression was mediated by purpose in life and/or moderated by the ability to navigate life choices and/or the ability to distance from worry. When looking at these variables through the perspective of the Evolutionary Mismatch theory, young adults seem to have difficulty with finding a purpose in life, navigating life choices and distancing from worry. It is currently unknown how the relationship between identity confusion and depression would be affected, when young adults were able to deal effectively with these evolutionary mismatches. In the current study we wanted to shed light on this, by investigating these relationships when young adults had a higher purpose in life and were more able to navigate life choices/distance from worry. It was found that there was a significant positive relationship between identity confusion and depression, this relationship was partially mediated by purpose in life. There was no moderation of the ability to navigate life choices on the relationship between identity confusion and purpose in life, but a direct positive association was found between the ability to navigate life choices and purpose in life. There was no moderation of the ability to distance from worry on the relationship between identity confusion/purpose in life and depression, but a direct negative association was found between the ability to distance from worry and depression. This was the first study to add all these different variables together, in order to investigate these relationships. Although not all interactions were significant, this study still adds new information to the research base with the results that were found. As such it will serve as a good starting point for researchers to replicate these findings and to investigate these relationships further in future research.