Depressive symptoms: effects of negative affectivity and failing to accept the past.

Conceptual problems with existing measures of Erikson's ego-integrity construct were identified. It was hypothesized that a core component of ego-integrity involves how individuals evaluate and reflect on past experiences. Accepting the past was formally defined and operationalized and was conceptualized as one source of self-worth central to many formulations of depression. Findings demonstrate that accepting the past was related to a measure of ego-integrity in an elderly community sample, demonstrated superior predictive and incremental validity than ego-integrity in predicting concurrent depressive symptoms, and was unrelated to reminiscing about the past. Failing to accept the past was related to depressive symptoms even after accounting for effects due to age, sex, and physical symptoms. However, accepting the past was moderated by trait negative affectivity. Accepting the past predicted depressive symptoms only in individuals reporting high negative affectivity.