A Longitudinal Study of the Role and Significance of Mattering to Others for Depressive Symptoms

This paper addresses the hypothesis that the experience of mattering to others is inversely related to depressive symptomatology. We also assess the extent to which mattering overlaps or is redundant with other measures of personal and social resources. Based on multivariate analyses of two waves of data from a large urban community sample (n = 1,300), we identify three important findings. First, women experience substantially higher levels of mattering than do men. Therefore, if men and women had equal levels of mattering, women would report even higher depression scores relative to men. Second, it is clear that mattering and sub-dimensions of social support are substantially more confounded among men than among women. Finally, analyses confirm that mattering is conditionally predictive of depression by gender. Specifically, variations in mattering are predictive of depression for women, but not for men. This relationship is confirmed both cross-sectionally and over time.