The effects of achievement motivation on relationships between depression and social support

Abstract

Two surveys were carried out on university students (study 1 : 116 males and 120 females ; study 2 :140 males and 105 females) in order to verify 1 ; achievement motive stand concerning relationship between depression and social support ; 2 : the two aspects of achievement motive (self-fulfilmentive achievement motive and competitive achievement motive) effects differently on the relationship between depression, and 3 : the two factors (‘depression’ and ‘ochikomi’****) in depression. As results, the following findings were obtained : 1. A person with a high self-fulfilmentive achievement motive may experience ‘ochikomi’ in everyday life, but when he / she makes use of social support, the fact that he / she has a high self-fulfilmentive achievement motive acts effectively, showing a significant negative correlation with depression. 2. A person with a high competitive achievement motive has a significant positive correlation with ‘ochikomi’****, and may depend on social support as a result of ‘ochikomi’****. However, no correlation with depression are seen, and the competitive achievement motive is proved ineffective in the utilization of social support. © 1991, Department of Mathematics, Tokyo Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.