Construing and depression in Taiwanese women

This research explores the association between depression and aspects of construing, assessed by repertory grid technique, in women in Taiwan. Women diagnosed as depressed exhibited tighter, more unidimensional construing than women not so diagnosed. In addition, various aspects of self-construing were associated with depression, including construing the self as dissimilar to the ideal self, the self in social roles, and the parents; and a discrepancy between the ideal self and the person’s view of how others would like her to be. There was no significant difference in the content of constructs elicited from women with and without depression, but the participants used fewer emotional and more value constructs than the Spanish sample from which the Classification System for Personal Constructs (CSPC) employed in the present study was developed. The findings concerning social roles and content of construing are considered from a cultural perspective.