Dataset for ‘I am tired, sad and kind’: self-evaluation and symptoms of depression in adolescents

This dataset is for a study examining self-evaluation and depression in adolescents. Adolescents aged 13-18 years (n = 549) completed a measure of depression symptoms (the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) and a measure of self-evaluation (the Twenty Statements Test; TST). Descriptions (words generated by adolescents to describe their self) were then collated and are presented in this resource.

The data set contains:

1. A list of the most common words generated by both healthy adolescents and those with elevated symptoms of depression alongside a percentage of how often each word was generated. Only words generated more than once are included.

2. A list of words with corresponding difference scores. These scores were calculated (e.g., % of adolescents in the elevated group who generated word A - the % of adolescents in healthy group who generated word A) so it is possible to identify words more ‘discriminate’ to those with low and elevated symptoms of depression. A difference score of a positive value highlights that these words were generated more often by adolescents with elevated symptoms of depression.