Depressed and nondepressed content self-reference in mild depressives

The present research investigated the extent to which mild depressives and normals differed in their self-referent processing of personal information. In Experiment 1, these subjects made two types of ratings on depressed (e.g., bleak, dismal) and nondepressed (e.g., loyal, organized) content personal adjectives. Half of the adjectives in each content category were rated for a semantic attribute (Does this word have a specific meaning or relate to a specific situation?), whereas half were rated for degree of self-reference (Does this word describe you?). These ratings were followed immediately by an incidental recall task, in which subjects recalled as many of the adjectives as possible. Consistent with predictions generated from a content-specific self-schema model, normals displayed superior recall for self-referenced nondepressed content adjectives, when compared to recall for self-referenced depressed content adjectives and recall for semantic ratings (both depressed and nondepressed content). In contrast, mild depressives exhibited enhanced self-referent recall for both types of content, when compared to their recall for semantic adjectives. This finding suggested that mild depressives utilize a self-schema which incorporates both depressed and nondepressed content. Experiment 2 explored this suggestion further by substituting an other-referent rating task (Does this word describe Pierre Trudeau?) for the semantic judgment used in Experiment 1. Again, consistent with a content-specific self-schema model, normals displayed superior recall only for self-referenced nondepressed adjectives. Mild depressives, however, showed enhanced self-referent recall, relative to other-referent recall, only for depressed content adjectives. For nondepressed content, mild depressives did not distinguish between the self- and other-referent conditions. This finding hinted that the nondepressed component of the mild depressives self-schema may operate at a somewhat reduced effectiveness, but only when required to differentiate between self and others.     

Depressed versus nondepressed young adult tobacco users: differences in coping style, weight concerns and exercise level.

Undergraduates age 18 to 24 years (n=656) completed questionnaires assessing tobacco use, depressive symptoms, coping responses, weight concerns, and exercise. The majority of participants were female (72%), White/non-Hispanic (95%), and in the 1st or 2nd year of college (80%). Current tobacco users (n=236) had a higher frequency of depression (40%) than never tobacco users (32%; p=.05). Tobacco users classified as depressed (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale [CES-D] score a 16) reported greater weight concerns and more frequent maladaptive coping in response to negative mood than tobacco users classified as nondepressed (CES-D score<16). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that higher maladaptive coping and lower level of exercise were significantly associated with depression among tobacco users.     

Depressed mothers' and their infants' interactions with nondepressed partners

Twenty depressed adolescent mothers were videotaped interacting with their own infant and with the infant of a nondepressed mother. In addition, nondepressed mothers were videotaped with their own infant as well as with the infant of a depressed mother. Depressed mothers showed less facial expressivity than nondepressed mothers and received less optimal interaction rating scale scores (a summary score for state, physical activity, head orientation, gaze, silence during gaze aversion, facial expressions, vocalizations, infantized behavior, contingent responsivity, and gameplaying). This occurred independent of whether they were interacting with their own infant versus an infant of a nondepressed mother, suggesting that depressed mothers display less optimal behaviors to infants in general. The infants of both depressed and nondepressed mothers received better head orientation and summary ratings when they were interacting with another mother, perhaps because the other mother was more novel. Infants of nondepressed mothers, in particular, had better summary ratings (state, physical activity, head orientation, gaze, facial expressions, fussiness, and vocalizations) than the infants of depressed mothers when interacting with depressed mothers. Thus, it may be that infants of nondepressed mothers are generally better interaction partners than infants of depressed mothers. Another related possibility is that they persist longer in trying to elicit a response from mothers less responsive than their own, given that they have learned to expect a response to their behavior.     

Assessing interpersonal perceptions using the interpersonal grid

Three studies were conducted using the interpersonal grid, a method for assessing perceptions of agentic and communal behavior based on the interpersonal circumplex. The 1st examined consistency across perceivers and convergence between perceiver and the perceived person. The 2nd examined whether responses to the interpersonal grid were sensitive to an experimental manipulation of portrayed agency and communion. The 3rd used the interpersonal grid in an event-contingent recording study. The reliability and validity of the measure were supported by findings demonstrating generalizability across perceivers, generalizability across perceptions of events involving the same person, convergence between perceiver and perceived person, and sensitivity to changes in levels of agency and communion. Applications of the interpersonal grid to clinical practice and research are described.     

Attributional processing style differences in depressed and nondepressed individuals

A series of four studies used different measures to assess the amount of attributional processing following failure and success. It was found that, from an actor's point of view, relatively depressed students consistently differed from relatively nondepressed students in the amount of their attributional processing. The depressed individuals reported more attributions for both hypothetical and real failure, compared to the nondepressed individuals. They also reported fewer attributions for hypothetical success than the nondepressed individuals. In line with previous findings, depressed individuals took less personal credit for their successes and ascribed their failures more pronouncedly to their lack of ability. The findings reflect a depressive attributional processing style that encompasses individual differences, both in the content and in the amount of causal thinking following failure and success. Integration of this style into the attributional helplessness model of depression is suggested. The findings are compatible with a differential self-esteem view of depression and with aspects of Kuhl's functional helplessness model of depression. Implications for depression therapy are briefly discussed.Financial support for the studies was obtained from the University of Bielefeld (Grants 0Z 2760/2774). I wish to thank Karola Bettmer, Thomas Feld, and Stefan Wächter for their participation in the collection and the preparation of the data, as well as Friedrich Försterling, Jonathan Harrow, Wulf-Uwe Meyer, and two unknown reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.     

Gender differences in adolescent concerns and emotional well-being: perceptions of Singaporean adolescent students

Although much has been written about adolescent adjustment and coping in Western countries, relatively little is known about similar issues in Asia. The authors examined the emotional adjustment of young adolescents in Singapore. They report adolescent concerns and how they influence adaptive functioning and emotional well-being. Data were obtained from three self-report measures: the Adolescent Concerns Measure (R. P Ang, W. H. Chong, V. S. Huan, & L. S. Yeo, in press), selected scales of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children Personality Self-Report (C. R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus, 1998), and the Emotional Distress Scale of the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (W. M. Reynolds, 2001). Emotional well-being emerged as a dominant concern for Singaporean youths with significant gender differences. Girls reported a more positive attitude toward school, better friendship skills, and stronger relationships with parents than did boys. However, girls registered significantly greater worries about self and emotional distress compared to boys. The authors discuss implications for teachers and mental health professionals.     

Coordination success and interpersonal perceptions: matching versus mismatching

Coordination is an essential part of social functioning. The authors distinguish 2 types of coordination: matching and mismatching. In matching, coordination is successful if parties choose the same action. In mismatching, coordination is successful if people choose different actions. In 3 studies, the authors investigated the downstream social consequences of tacit coordination for interpersonal perceptions. In all studies, participants repeatedly choose between 2 bets with equivalent expected values, and payoffs increased either when they choose the same bet or when they choose different bets. In the 1st 2 studies, coordination success increased the perceptions of interpersonal similarity and liking when matching was required but not when mismatching was required. The authors' interpretation is that matching responses and coordination success had countervailing effects in the mismatching task. Also, percentage of matched responses did not affect perceptions when coordination was not required (Experiment 2). In 4 person teams, a frequently matching partner was viewed more favorably (smarter, more similar to self, and more liked) than were other teammates, even when mismatching increased payoffs (Experiment 3).     

Situational-specificity of motivational differences between depressed and nondepressed subjects

Performance on an easy or a difficult coding task for 4 90-sec. repetitions by 15 college women who showed depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory and the MMPI-Depression Scale and 15 who did not indicated no support for a psychological or motivational deficit in depression. Replication with clinically depressed persons is recommended.     

Trust-suspicion and gender differences in interpersonal functioning

Responses on self-report questionnaires (Study 1) and in a dyadic game (Study 2) were observed to investigate relationships of trust-suspicion (T-S), locus of control (I-E), and situational contingencies to styles of interpersonal functioning. Generalized T-S predicted cooperative/competitive interactional choices among the male college student samples (p ? .01). However, T-S predicted females' interpersonal behaviors only when they were in a reactive, defensive position. T-S did not relate to actual behaviors when females were allowed to select/initiate cooperative or competitive exchanges. Situational rules (p ? .025) and I-E (p ? .01) predicted all subjects' behaviors when in a choice, but not defensive, position.     

Sex differences in perceptions of interpersonal work style,career emphasis,supervisory mentoring behavior,and job satisfaction

This study examined the perceptions of career-oriented men and women with respect to their interpersonal work style, career emphasis, supervisory behavior, and job satisfaction based on their current or most recent work experience. The results show that women subjects in this study perceived themselves to be less assertive in work situations and also continued to emphasize home life over their career success and advancement when compared to men. In the context of supervisory behavior, women subjects perceived male supervisors as exhibiting less mentioning behavior towards them and had lower job satisfaction when compared to male subjects under male supervisors in the study. Some implications of these results with respect to training and career management were also discussed.     

Culture, interpersonal perceptions, and happiness in social interactions

The authors examined cultural differences in interpersonal processes associated with happiness felt in social interactions. In a false feedback experiment (Study 1a), they found that European Americans felt happier when their interaction partner perceived their personal self accurately, whereas Asian Americans felt happier when their interaction partner perceived their collective self accurately. In Study 1b, the authors further demonstrated that the results from Study 1a were not because of cultural differences in desirability of the traits used in Study 1a. In Studies 2 and 3, they used a 2-week event sampling method and replicated Study 1. Unlike Asian Americans, African Americans were not significantly different from European Americans in the predictors of happiness in social interactions. Together, this research shows that interpersonal affirmation of important aspects of the self leads to happiness and that cultural differences are likely to emerge from the emphasis placed on different aspects of the self.     

Neuroticism and interpersonal negativity: the independent contributions of perceptions and behaviors

Why are neurotic intimates likely to have troubled relationships? Do they create greater negativity through their own negative behavior, or do they perceive greater negativity through processes of perceptual construal? The current research addressed this question through a study of newlyweds. Spouses reported their neuroticism and their expectancies for two upcoming problem-solving discussions with their partners, then participated in those discussions, and finally reported their perceptions of how their partners behaved during the discussions. Objective observations revealed that the partners of more neurotic spouses behaved more negatively than the partners of less neurotic spouses. For wives, their own behavior mediated these effects. In addition, once the objective quality of partners' behavior was controlled, more neurotic spouses also reported more negative perceptions of those partners' behavior. For husbands, their own expectancies mediated these effects. That personality uniquely affects relationships through behavioral and perceptual processes suggests that those processes should be studied independently.     

Reconceptualizing individual differences in self-enhancement bias: an interpersonal approach

Self-enhancement bias has been studied from 2 perspectives: L. Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) and G. W. Allport's (1937) self-insight theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they are perceived by others). These 2 perspectives are theoretically and empirically distinct, and the failure to recognize their differences has led to a protracted debate. A new interpersonal approach to self-enhancement decomposes self-perception into 3 components: perceiver effect, target effect, and unique self-perception. Both theoretical derivations and an illustrative study suggest that this resulting measure of self-enhancement is less confounded by unwanted components of interpersonal perception than previous social comparison and self-insight measures. Findings help reconcile conflicting views about whether self-enhancement is adaptive or maladaptive.     

Integrity and identity: Moral identity differences and preferred interpersonal reactions

Moral identity affects interpersonal relationships by guiding how people perceive and respond to feedback, evaluate others and select task partners and friends. Self‐described principled participants (high scorers on the Integrity Scale) more strongly preferred principled‐prototypic others over expedient ones and believed it possible to be more principled in one's beliefs (Study 1), preferred evaluators who regarded them as principled over expedient (Study 2), had friends who saw them as principled and paired up with friends who were themselves principled (Study 3). In contrast, expedient individuals did not display mirror‐image reactions but saw merit in being both expedient and principled; they were accepting of any relevant feedback and partner preferences. Moral identity is a key link between ethical beliefs and behaviours. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-Esteem and threats to self: implications for self-construals and interpersonal perceptions.

In 4 studies, the authors examined interpersonal perceptions as a function of self-construals and ego threats for those with high and low self-esteem. Previous research (T. F. Heatherton & K. D. Vohs, 2000a) found that after threat, high self-esteem people were rated as less likable by an unacquainted dyad partner, whereas low self-esteem people were rated as more likable. Study I showed that after threat, high self-esteem people seek competency feedback, whereas low self-esteem people seek interpersonal feedback. Study 2 showed that high self-esteem people become more independent after threat, whereas low self-esteem people become more interdependent. Study 3 linked differences in independence versus interdependence to interpersonal evaluations. Study 4 found that differences in independent and interdependent self-construals statistically accounted for differences in likability and personality perceptions of high and low self-esteem people after threat. Thus, the combination of threat and self-esteem alters people's focus on different self-aspects, which consequently leads to different interpersonal appraisals.