The Causal Relationship among Rolefulness, Self-esteem, and Depression

The main purpose of this study was to examine the causal relationship between rolefulness and depression. In particular, the mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between rolefulness and depression was examined. Based on data from 856 Japanese high school students, three models were constructed and the validity thereof examined. The most appropriate model revealed that social rolefulness affected internal rolefulness, self-esteem, and depression. Subsequently, internal rolefulness improved self-esteem and reduced depression.


Literature Review
Rolefulness may be defined as the continuous sense of role satisfaction in our daily lives (Kato & Suzuki, 2018). The concept encompasses social and internal aspects. Social rolefulness is a sense of role satisfaction based on social experiences and relationships with others and includes notions of one's role being necessary for other people and having a role in a group to which one belongs. In contrast, internal rolefulness is a more internalized feeling of role satisfaction and becomes the basis of the cognition for individuality and confidence. Moreover, it involves notions of realizing one's identity through one's role and gaining confidence because of one's role.
Previous studies have revealed a significant correlation between self-esteem and depression. Cong, Ling, and Aun (2019) revealed that both self-esteem and problem-focused coping negatively correlated with adolescents' depression. Furthermore, self-esteem mediated the association between www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jpbr problem-focused coping and adolescents' depression. Saha and Tamanna (2018) demonstrated that an increase in maternal depression causes a decrease in adolescents' self-esteem and academic achievement. Moritz and Roberts (2018) suggested that depression and low self-esteem function to prejudice negatively how individuals believe they are perceived by others in new acquaintanceships and therefore, may be imperative in the development of interpersonal relationships. In essence, self-esteem and depression are key concepts in understanding the effect of interpersonal relationships and social roles on mental health.
Kato and Suzuki (2018) revealed the significant relationship between rolefulness and self-esteem.
Furthermore, Szkody and McKinney (2019) found that the perception of friend support was indirectly related to internalizing and externalizing problems through self-esteem. Social support and self-esteem were demonstrated to both have significantly positive predictive effects on life satisfaction (Li & Bian, 2016).
Rolefulness development in adolescence is also a fundamental factor in the promotion of mental health.
Suzuki and Kato (2019) revealed a significant relationship between school maladjustment and rolefulness in a study that examined the prospective associations between them. Social relationships function as both a risk and protective factor for depression (Nguyen, Walton, Thomas, Mouzon, & Taylor, 2019). Nho, Yoon, Seo, and Cui (2019) found a full mediating effect of social support in the relationship between depression and school adjustment. One may, therefore, deduce that constructing good relationships with others and receiving appropriate social support is a core factor involved in preventing depression.

The Causal Relationship Model of Rolefulness, Self-esteem, and Depression
While both social and internal rolefulness have been found to correlate with self-esteem and depression significantly (Kato & Suzuki, 2018), social rolefulness has been found to have a more significant correlation with these variables than internal rolefulness. Therefore, it was hypothesized that social rolefulness would be the starting point of the path model. The primary model, depicted in Figure 1, was constructed in accordance with the hypothesis. Social rolefulness, as the starting point of the model, affects internal rolefulness, self-esteem, and depression. Subsequently, internal rolefulness improves self-esteem and decreases depression.  The second model, presented in Figure 2, is based on an alternative hypothesis. The position of social rolefulness and internal rolefulness is reversed in this model. Consequently, while internal rolefulness influences self-esteem, depression and social rolefulness mediate its effect.

Figure 2. Model 2
The third model, illustrated in Figure 3, employs the latent variable. Both social and internal rolefulness factors are converged into a rolefulness factor, which affects self-esteem. It continuously reduces depression.

Figure 3. Model 3
The purpose of the present study was to confirm the validity of these models. We hypothesized that the first model would be the most appropriate to describe the relationship among rolefulness, self-esteem, and depression.