Self-orientation and depression level among Dominicans in the United States

Depression is one of the most frequently diagnosed mental disorders in the United States (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Maxmen and Ward (1995) reported that depression affects 15% of all Americans [...]
This research examines an interaction model in which self-orientation levels mediate the effects of perceived social support and general self-efficacy on depression level. Two dimensions of self orientation were included in this formulation: idiocentrism (the tendency to define oneself through self-attributes) and allocentrism (the tendency to define oneself in relation to others). We hypothesized that idiocentrism would interact with general self-efficacy and that allocentrism would interact with perceived social support to create an individual's depression level. The two hypotheses were tested using 85 low-socioeconomic-status Dominicans living in the United States by means of ANOVAs. No support was found for either hypothesis. We found, however that this sample reported high levels of (a) depressive symptomatology and (b) allocentric orientation.