Guilt Proneness and Shame Proneness Differentially Relate to Sex Disparity in Depression Among Adolescents in China: A Longitudinal Serial Mediation Analysis.

While sex disparities in adolescent depression are well-documented, how distinct self-conscious emotions divergently impact this gap remains incompletely understood. Using a three-wave longitudinal design, Chinese adolescents (N = 2,915; Mage = 16.99, SD = 1.33; 40.07% female) completed measures of shame, guilt, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, and depression over 12 months. Females exhibited higher shame, guilt, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms. Crucially, shame mediated the sex disparity by increasing depressive risk, whereas guilt was not a significant mediator. Furthermore, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation serially mediated the risk pathway (Sex → Shame → Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation → Depressive symptoms). This demonstrates that female depressive vulnerability is driven by a specific shame-induced regulatory failure, highlighting the need for interventions dismantling shame.