Advancing the Next Generation of Research on Self-Silencing and Depression: A Narrative Review and Synthesis of Three Decades of Research

Silencing the self theory (Jack, 1991) proposed that women’s traditional gender roles and social inequality foster the formation of specific cognitive/relational schemas that direct their behaviors toward ensuring safe, secure relationships and avoiding conflict and loss. These schemas create a vulnerability to depression by implicitly encouraging women to silence their thoughts and feelings, prioritize others’ needs, and judge themselves through external standards – referred to as self-silencing. The current article provides a narrative review of over three decades of research on self-silencing and depression. A total of 126 studies that assessed self-silencing with the Silencing the Self Scale (Jack & Dill, 1992) were included to identify and examine (a) mediators and moderators of the association between self-silencing and depression, (b) self-silencing itself as a mediator and moderator of variables related to depression, and (c) correlates of self-silencing. We found that self-silencing was most likely to occur in inequitable and hurtful social environments; contexts shaped by traditional gender role ideologies; and relationships characterized by conflict, power inequities, and a lack of mutuality. Studies also supported self-silencing as a mechanism linking social/cultural/relational processes with depression. Moreover, specific cognitive and emotional processes appeared to heighten self-silencing and contributed to the self-silencing–depression association. We consider the implications of these findings for silencing the self theory and offer a comprehensive set of recommendations for advancing the next generation of research on self-silencing and depression.