Table 3.
Pronouns use in MD, NS, and healthy individuals.
| Linguistic variables (quotients) | Descriptive statistics | Between-group comparisons | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistical variables | MD (n = 124) | Control group | MD vs. HC* | MD vs. NH vs. NS* | ||||||
| HC (n = 77) | Subgroups | Mann–Whitney U-test | One-way ANOVA | |||||||
| NH (n = 42) | NS (n = 35) | |||||||||
| U | Effect size r | F df (2, 198) | Effect size η2 | |||||||
| Pronouns | Indefinite (e.g., anything) | Mean | 3.75 | 1.40 | 1.29 | 1.54 | 129.50 | 0.916 | 67.85 | 0.406 |
| SD | 0.52 | 0.54 | 0.46 | 0.61 | ||||||
| Generalized (e.g., everything) | Mean | 3.74 | 1.58 | 1.46 | 1.70 | 663.50 | 0.860 | 4.06 | 0.039 | |
| SD | 0.52 | 0.60 | 0.52 | 0.64 | ||||||
| Negative (e.g., nobody) | Mean | 3.75 | 1.40 | 1.29 | 1.54 | 94.50 | 0.932 | 482.81 | 0.829 | |
| SD | 0.51 | 0.50 | 0.41 | 0.60 | ||||||
| Personal (e.g., I) | Mean | 3.45 | 1.83 | 1.83 | 1.83 | 158.00 | 0.842 | 235.24 | 0.704 | |
| SD | 0.52 | 0.52 | 0.49 | 0.57 | ||||||
| Possessive (e.g., my) | Mean | 3.75 | 1.58 | 1.45 | 1.74 | 600.00 | 0.782 | 153.13 | 0.607 | |
| SD | 0.50 | 0.61 | 0.59 | 0.61 | ||||||
| Reflexive (e.g., myself) | Mean | 3.56 | 1.96 | 1.90 | 2.03 | 1,364.00 | 0.697 | 390.95 | 0.797 | |
| SD | 0.54 | 0.50 | 0.58 | 0.38 | ||||||
*p < 0.05.
HC, the entire healthy control group; NH, normal healthy participants with euthymic state; NS, normal sadness; MD, patients with mild depression.