The Relationship between Self-Criticism and Sensitivity to Rejection with Psychological Distress in Female Students: Mediating Role of Self-silencing

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Kazerun Salman Farsi University, Kazerun, Iran

2 Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, Kazerun, Iran

3 Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-silencing components in the relationship between self-criticism and rejection sensitivity with the psychological distress of female students. The research sample was 381 female students from the Salman Farsi University of Kazerun who participated in this study virtually by responding to the questionnaire link. This link is a set of items related to the four questionnaires: Levels of self-criticism (Thompson & Zuroff, 2004), Sensitivity to Rejection Questionnaire (Downey & Feldman, 1996), Silencing the Self Scale (Jack & Dill, 1992), and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The results of the analysis performed using the structural equation modeling in AMOS-22 software showed that the levels of self-criticism and sensitivity to rejection, in addition to direct effects on various aspects of students' psychological distress, also affected the extent of their psychological distresses indirectly by mediating to two components of self-silencing: externalized self-perception and divided-self. The findings of this study especially emphasize the importance of the mediating role of two components of self-silencing (externalized self-perception and divided-self) in the effect of sensitivity to rejection and self-criticism of young girls on their psychological distress.

Keywords

Main Subjects


 
Abrams, J. A., Hill, A. & Maxwell, M. (2019). Underneath the mask of the strong black woman schema: Disentangling influences of strength and self-silencing on depressive symptoms among U.S. Black women. Sex Roles, 80(9), 517-526.
Adams, G. (2005). The Cultural Grounding of Personal Relationship: Enemyship in North American and West African Worlds. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(6), 948–968.
Adams, G. & Plaut, V. C. (2003). The cultural grounding of personal relationship: Friendship in North American and West African worlds. Personal Relationships, 10(3), 333-347.
Ali, A. & Toner, B. B. (2001). Symptoms of depression among Caribbean women and Caribbean‐Canadian women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25(3), 175-180. ‌
Ayduk, O., Downey, G. & Kim, M. (2001). Rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms in women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(7), 868–877. ‌
Blatt, S. J. & Zuroff, D. C. (1992). Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition: Two prototypes for depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 12(5), 527-562.
Bentler, P. M. (2006). EQS 6 Structural Equations Program Manual. Encino. CA: Multivariate Software Inc.
Bessera, A., Flett, G. B. & Davis, R. A. (2003). Self-criticism, dependency, silencing the self, and loneliness: A test of a mediational model. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(8), 1735-1752.
Downey, G. & Feldman, S. I. (1996). Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(6), 1327–1343. 
Emran, A., Iqbal, N. & AhmadDar, I. (2020). Silencing the self’ and women’s mental health problems: A narrative review. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 53, 2-10.
Habibi, M., Mokhtar, S. M., Ghanbari, N., Nooripour, R. & Motabi, E. (2016). Marital maladjustment and depression in women: Mediating role of self-repression. Romanian Journal of Experimental Applied Psychology, 7(2), 10-27.
Harper, M. S., Dickson, J. W. & Welsh, D. P. (2006). Self-silencing and rejection sensitivity in adolescent romantic relationships. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 435–443. ‌
Hooper, D., Coughlan, J. & Mullen, M. (2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6(1), 53-60.
Hosseini, F. S. & Darvishi, K. (2015). The role of personality traits and dimensions of family parenting in adolescents' self-esteem and self-criticism. The Women and Families Cultural-Educational, 10(32), 73-98. (In Persian)
Hosseini, R. & Afshari Nia, K. (2018). Prediction levels based on predicted body image and early maladaptive Schema. Journal of Motor and Behavioral Sciences, 1(2), 87-96. (In Persian)
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: Guilford Press.
Khoshkam, S., Bahrami, F. & Rahmatollahi, F. (2014). Psychometric properties of rejection sensitivity questionnaire in university students in Iran. Psychological Research, 17(1), 22-44. (In Persian)
Kurtis, T. (2010). Self-silencing and Well-being among Turkish Women. Unpublished Master Thesis. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Available online at: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/6443
Jack, D. C. (2001). Understanding women's anger: A description of relational patterns. Health Care for Women International, 22(4), 385-400.
Jack, D. C. (2011). Reflections on the silencing the self scale and its origins. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(3), 523-529.
Jack, D. C., Ali, A. & Dias, S. (2014). Depression in multicultural populations. In F. T. L. Leong, L. Comas-Díaz, G. C. Nagayama Hall, V. C. McLoyd, & J. E. Trimble (Eds.), APA handbooks in psychology. APA handbook of multicultural psychology, Vol. 2. Applications and training (267–287). American Psychological Association. ‌
Jack, D. C. & Dill, D. (1992). The silencing the self scale; schemas of intimacy associated with depression in women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 97-106. ‌
Maji, S. & Dixit, S. (2019). Self-silencing and women’s health: A review. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 65(1), 3-13.
Malekpour, F., Mehrabizadeh, M. & Rahimi, M. (2017). The causal relationship of types of self-absorption and maladaptive perfectionism with depression through the mediating role of self-criticism in university students. Journal of Psychological Studies, 13(3), 25-42. (In Persian)
Meyers, L. S., Gamst, G. & Guarino, A. J. (2016). Applied multivariate research: Design and interpretation. Sage publications.
Mongrain, M. & Leather, F. (2006). Immature dependence and self‐criticism predict the recurrence of major depression. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(6), 705-713.
Moosavi, A. S. & Ghorbani, N. (2006). Self-awareness, self-criticism and mental health. Journal of Psychological Studies, 2(3), 75-91. (In Persian)
Paprocki, C. M. & Baucom, D. H. (2017). Worried about us: Evaluating an intervention for relationship-based anxiety. Family Process, 56(1), 45-58.
Rajabi, G., Malik Mohammadi, F., Amanallahifar, A. & Sudani, M. (2015). Self-criticism, internal religious orientation, depression, and feeling of loneliness with mediation of silencing the self among students involved in romantic relationships: A path analysis model. Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health, 17(6), 284-291. (In Persian)
Rosenfield, S., Lennon, M. C. & White, H. R. (2005). The self and mental health: Self-salience and the emergence of internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(4), 323-340.
Shariati, M., Hamid, N., Hashemi ShaykhShabani, E., Beshlideh, K. & Marashi, A. (2017). The effectiveness of compassion focused therapy on depression and self criticism of female university students. Knowledge & Research in Applied Psychology, 17(1), 43-50. (In Persian)
Shulman, S., Norona, J., Scharf, M., Zif, I. & Welsh, D. P. (2018). Changes in self-silencing from adolescence to emerging adulthood and associations with relationship quality and coping with relationship stressors. Journal of Relationships Research, 9(21), 1-8.
Swim, J. K., Eyssell, K. M., Murdoch, E. Q. & Ferguson, M. J. (2010). Self‐silencing to sexism. Journal of Social Issues, 66(3), 493-507.
Thompson, R. & Zuroff, D. C. (2004). The levels of self-criticism scale: comparative self-criticism and internalized self-criticism. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(2), 419-430.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2000). Women’s Mental Health: An Evidence Based Review. Geneva: WHO. Available at https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/66539/WHO_MSD_MDP_00.1.pdf
Yamaguchi, A., Kim, M. S. & Akutsuc, S. (2014). The effects of self-construals, self-criticism, and self-compassion on depressive symptoms. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 65-70.
Zabihidan, S. (2010). The relationship between family communication patterns and feelings of loneliness with the mediation of self-criticism and self-deprecation. Master Thesis in Educational Psychology, Shiraz University. (In Persian)