Assessing the Role of Personal Growth Initiative in Predicting Depression Symptoms

Depression has been estimated to contribute to half of all suicides and affects people of any gender, age, level of income, ethnicity and religious background. Depression is a highly treatable disease, but it is not yet preventable. Increasing understanding of depression predictors can provide avenues for prevention intervention. To this end, we will assess the role of Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) in predicting depression.  PGI is active intentional engagement in the process of personal growth and change. Previous research has shown that people with high levels of PGI have lower levels of depression. Our hypothesis is that PGI will be a unique predictor, accounting for additional variance in depression beyond known predictors including gender, perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), negative thoughts (Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale), and stressors (List of Threatening Events).  Data will be collected from undergraduate students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology using a web- based survey. Because this is a pilot study, it is difficult to anticipate the magnitude of the unique effect. However, given the strength of PGI as an individual predictor of depressive symptoms in past research, we expect that PGI will account for at least 7% unique variance in depressive symptoms. In the future, our lab would like to generate additional research testing the ability of PGI to predict depressive symptoms over time. Our results will benefit the psychology community by providing a new resource for researchers to use in predicting risk for depression, and hopefully preventing depressive symptoms.