Depressive symptoms and personal project appraisals: A cross-lagged longitudinal study

There have been a number of studies done on the relationships between depressive symptomatology and the ways people work with their personal goals and projects. These cross-sectional studies cannot, however, ascertain whether depressive symptoms stem from personal project appraisals or vice versa. To examine this, cross-lagged longitudinal data on depressive symptoms and project appraisals was analysed using a structural equation modelling approach. For the study, 256 university students filled in the Littleʹs Personal Project Inventory, and the revised Beckʹs Depression Inventory, first at the beginning of their first fall-term, and then two years later. The results showed that depressive symptomatology predicted prospectively negative project appraisals. Project appraisals also had a minor prospective impact on depressive symptoms two years later.