The relationship of counterfactual thinking with self-esteem and depression among students

Counterfactual thinking literally means contrary to the truth. Counterfactual thinking occurs when a person modifies a real event, and then assess the consequences of that change. It is known that counterfactual thinking creates negative emotions, but they mayalso have beneficial or functional effects. The present study aimed to investigate the counterfactual thinking dimensions of self-esteem and depression among students of Islamic Azad University, Roodehen division. Therefore, based on the assumption of a correlation study, survey type, 400 students (200 males and 200 females) were selected using stratified random sampling. They were tested with the counterfactual thinking for negative events scale, Cooper Smith self-esteem scale and the Beck depression inventory. The results indicated that the upward self- referent thinking and upward non- referent thinking have significant negative correlation with self-esteem. The upward self- referent thinking, downward non- referent thinking, upward other- referent thinking, upward nonreferent thinking have significant positive correlation with depression. Based on counterfactual thinking dimensions, (the upward self- referent thinking, downward nonreferent, and upward other- referent thinking, upward non-referent thinking), a model can be presented for predicting self-esteem and depression.