New research has found that individuals who prioritize their honor highly but perceive themselves to have a low reputation are more likely to experience increased depressive symptoms over time. The findings, published in The Journal of Social Psychology, suggest that reputation damage may significantly affect mental health in people who strongly endorse honor values.
The researchers behind the new study aimed to better understand predictors of depression and suicide, particularly in cultures of honor. These cultures place a significant emphasis on social reputation, which can manifest as a reputation for strength and fearlessness for men and sexual purity and loyalty for women. Prior studies have indicated that maintaining and defending one’s reputation in these cultures could lead to mental health challenges, including depression and suicide.
Cultures of honor, prevalent in certain U.S. regions like the South and West, have shown higher suicide rates than non-honor cultures in the North and Midwest. The researchers hypothesized that a deep concern for one’s reputation might underlie these higher rates, particularly when individuals feel their reputations are threatened. However, empirical evidence directly linking perceived reputation damage to depression in honor-endorsing individuals was lacking.
“My colleagues and I were looking to more fully understand the day-to-day experiences which contribute to the higher rates of suicide found in cultures of honor,” explained study author Stephen Foster, an assistant professor of social psychology at Penn State York
“We felt much of the research in this area covered facilitating factors (e.g., firearm access, thwarted belongingness), but had not yet captured if perceived reputation damage actually led to changes in mental well-being, which is presumed to help create the conditions for suicidal behaviors in honor cultures. We want to move toward intervention work, so establishing the actual lived experiences of honor endorsers is critical to developing such programs.”
The researchers conducted their study by recruiting 302 participants through Cloud Research, an online data collection platform. An initial survey was conducted in mid-June and a follow-up survey was administered two months later, in mid-August.
The initial sample consisted of 302 participants, with an average age of 41.11 years. The sample was composed of 42 percent males and 58 percent females. The majority of participants identified as white, non-Hispanic (74.1 percent). The remaining participants identified as African American (9.2 percent), Asian (8.2 percent), Hispanic (5.2 percent), or “Other” (3.3 percent). By the time of the follow-up survey, 226 participants remained, representing a retention rate of 74.8 percent.
Honor concerns were measured using the Honor Concerns Scale, which assesses a general sense of how important honor is to an individual. Participants responded to statements such as “I think that honor is one of the most important things that I have as a human being” and “my honor is the basis for my self-respect.”
To evaluate how participants perceived their personal reputation, the researchers asked two questions regarding their reputation in their social circle and local community. Participants rated these items on a scale from 1 (Very Negative) to 7 (Very Positive). Similarly, perceived family reputation was assessed by asking participants to rate their family’s reputation in their social circle and local community.
Depressive symptoms were measured using the 7-item depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). This subscale asked participants to rate how often they experienced symptoms such as “I felt down-hearted and blue” and “I felt that life was meaningless” over the past two weeks.
The researchers found that individuals who placed a high importance on honor and perceived their personal reputation negatively were more likely to experience increased depressive symptoms over time. This relationship held true even when controlling for initial levels of depression and perceived reputation, as well as for gender.
The researchers also explored the impact of perceived family reputation on the relationship between honor concerns and depressive symptoms. Similar to the findings for individual reputation, higher honor concerns predicted higher depressive symptoms at the follow-up for participants with a low perceived family reputation. No significant relationship was found for participants with a high perceived family reputation. This suggests that perceived damage to both personal and family reputations can exacerbate depressive symptoms in individuals who highly value honor.
“Certain individuals who are deeply concerned about their reputation may be more sensitive to social exclusion, challenges to their identity, and other reputation threats,” Foster told PsyPost. “The word ‘perceived’ is important to note as well — these may not be threats that are actual threats, but as long as an honor endorser perceives it that way, it can lead to depressive symptomology down the road.”
Another notable finding was the absence of significant gender differences in the effects observed. Both men and women who valued honor highly and perceived their reputation negatively experienced increased depressive symptoms. This result is particularly intriguing given that honor cultures often emphasize different aspects of honor for men and women.
“This suggests that both men and women are experiencing these effects, and raises important questions for not only male suicide rates but the lesser-studied phenomenon of female suicide in honor cultures,” Foster explained.
These findings provide insights into the mechanisms that may contribute to higher rates of depression and suicide in honor cultures. But there are some caveats. One key limitation is the sample, which consisted only of U.S. participants. This focus limits the generalizability of the findings to other cultural contexts.
“It is important to remember these effects were in a U.S. sample, so we really need to do more of this longitudinal work in non-U.S cultures as well to replicate the findings,” Foster said.
Another area for future research is the specific types of threats to reputation that are most impactful for honor endorsers.
“I’d love to do work on more specific types of threats (e.g., which ones are the worst for honor endorsers and which aren’t so bad?), and to get even more granular by tracking daily fluctuations of affect in response to average, everyday experiences of distress, reputation threat, etc,” Foster said.
The study, “Perceived reputation moderates the link between honor concerns and depressive symptoms,” was authored by Stephen Foster and Jarrod Bock.