Minding the gap: Subjective relative deprivation and depressive symptoms

Abstract

Substantial evidence has linked depressive symptoms to various indices of societal-level inequality and relative deprivation. A larger literature has also addressed cognitive vulnerability and correlates of depression. Despite this evidence, little research to date has examined the relationship of depressive symptoms with such downstream individual-level consequences of inequality as subjective relative deprivation, or whether relative deprivation is associated with cognitive vulnerability in depression. We conducted two investigations among four separate samples (total N = 2999) to examine associations between subjective relative deprivation and depressive symptoms and cognitions. Across our studies and four different self-report measures of depressive symptoms, we found consistent significant positive associations between subjective relative deprivation and depression symptoms. Further, we found that subjective relative deprivation was predictive of depressive symptoms over and above other known vulnerability factors. Finally, we found that the relationship between subjective relative deprivation and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by negative automatic thoughts about self. These results provide further evidence of the importance of subjective deprivation in maintaining negative mental health outcomes.