When depression breeds contempt: reassurance seeking, self-esteem, and rejection of depressed college students by their roommates.

To test Coyne's (1976b) theory of depression, students' levels of depressive symptoms, reassurance seeking, and self-esteem were assessed at Time 1, and their same-gender roommates' appraisals of them were assessed 5 weeks later. Mildly depressed students engaged in the type of reassurance seeking described by Coyne. Among men, but not women, mildly depressed students were rejected if they strongly sought reassurance and had low self-esteem but not if they did not seek reassurance or had high self-esteem. Although induction of depressed symptoms in roommates did occur, this contagion effect did not account for the depression-rejection relationship. The prediction that unsupportive, intolerant, or unempathic others would be particularly likely to respond with rejection to reassurance-seeking depressed students with low self-esteem received partial support. Implications for future work on the interpersonal aspects of depression are discussed.     

Negative-Feedback Seeking Leads to Depressive Symptom Increases Under Conditions of Stress

An earlier empirical investigation found the interaction of negative-feedback seeking and roommate rejection to be predictive of increases in depressive symptoms. This study replicated and elaborated this finding. Participants who sought negative feedback and performed below their personal standard of success were more likely to experience a subsequent increase in depressive symptoms compared with all other students. Furthermore, the interaction of negative-feedback seeking and midterm failure was specific to predicting increases indepressive symptoms, and did not predict anxious symptoms, thus supporting the specificity of the model to depression. These findings suggest that negative-feedback seeking, combined with a negative life event, may place an individual at increased risk for depressive symptoms. Potential methods and consequences of disrupting the pattern of negative-feedback seeking are discussed.     

Cognitive,affective and social mechanisms in depression risk: Cognition,hostility, and coping style

Although some research has assessed cognitive variables in individuals at risk for depression, few studies have specifically assessed the role of automatic thinking, and virtually no studies have assessed anger and coping in this group. The current study compared measures of these variables in a high-risk group that was defined on the basis of a previous episode of depression, and a control group comprised of low-risk/never depressed individuals. Even though neither group evidenced depressive symptoms at the time of assessment, group comparisons and regression analyses indicated that high-risk individuals reported more negative automatic thoughts than did low-risk participants and that social support seeking, self-blame, and avoidance emerged as coping predictors of risk as did higher levels of anger and hostility. These data thus suggest patterns of interpersonal, behavioural, and cognitive variables that may characterise depression risk.     

Depressive Symptoms,Criticism, and Counter‐Criticism in Marital Interactions

Although people with depressive symptoms face criticism, hostility, and rejection in their close relationships, we do not know how they respond. Following interpersonal theories of depression, it might be expected that depressive symptoms would be associated with a tendency to receive and also to express criticism toward one's spouse, and that at least some of this criticism would be a contingent response to criticism received (i.e., “counter‐criticism”). However, other research has determined that depressive symptoms/behaviors suppress partner criticism, suggesting that depressed people might respond to partner criticism similarly, by subsequently expressing less criticism. In a sample of 112 married couples, partial correlations, regressions, and Actor‐Partner Interdependence Modeling indicated that lower criticism and counter‐criticism expression during a laboratory marital interaction task was associated with higher depressive symptoms, especially when such individuals were clinically depressed. Furthermore, during a separate and private Five‐Minute Speech Sample, lower criticism by partners was associated with higher depressive symptoms, especially when those who chose the interaction topic were also clinically depressed. All analyses controlled for relationship adjustment. These results suggest that spouses with higher depressive symptoms and clinical depression diagnoses may be suppressing otherwise ordinary criticism expression toward their nondepressed partners; furthermore, nondepressed partners of depressed people are especially likely to display less criticism toward their spouse in a private task.     

Frontolimbic response to negative feedback in clinical depression

Functional neuroimaging suggests that limbic regions of the medial frontal cortex may be abnormally active in individuals with depression. These regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex, are engaged in both action regulation, such as monitoring errors and conflict, and affect regulation, such as responding to pain. The authors examined whether clinically depressed subjects would show abnormal sensitivity of frontolimbic networks as they evaluated negative feedback. Depressed subjects and matched control subjects performed a video game in the laboratory as a 256-channel EEG was recorded. Speed of performance on each trial was graded with a feedback signal of A, C, or F. By 350 ms after the feedback signal, depressed subjects showed a larger medial frontal negativity for all feedback compared with control subjects with a particularly striking response to the F grade. This response was strongest for moderately depressed subjects and was attenuated for subjects who were more severely depressed. Localization analyses suggested that negative feedback engaged sources in the anterior cingulate and insular cortices. These results suggest that moderate depression may sensitize limbic networks to respond strongly to aversive events.     

Adult attachment dimensions and specificity of emotional distress symptoms: prospective investigations of cognitive risk and interpersonal stress generation as mediating mechanisms

Three prospective studies examined the relation between adult attachment dimensions and symptoms of emotional distress (anxiety and depression). Across all three studies, avoidant and anxious attachment prospectively predicted depressive symptoms, and anxious attachment was associated concurrently with anxiety symptoms. Study 2 tested a cognitive risk factors mediational model, and Study 3 tested an interpersonal stress generation mediational model. Both cognitive and interpersonal mediating processes were supported. The cognitive risk factors pathway, including elevated dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem, specifically mediated the relation between insecure attachment and prospective elevations in depression but not anxiety. For the interpersonal stress generation model, experiencing additional interpersonal, but not achievement, stressors over time mediated the association between insecure attachment and prospective elevations in depressive and anxious symptoms. Results advance theory and empirical knowledge about why these interpersonal and cognitive mechanisms explain how insecurely attached people become depressed and anxious.     

Excessive reassurance seeking: delineating a risk factor involved in the development of depressive symptoms

Six studies investigated (a) the construct validity of reassurance seeking and (b) reassurance seeking as a specific vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that reassurance seeking is a reasonably cohesive, replicable, and valid construct, discernible from related interpersonal variables. Study 3 demonstrated that reassurance seeking displayed diagnostic specificity to depression, whereas other interpersonal variables did not, in a sample of clinically diagnosed participants. Study 4 prospectively assessed a group of initially symptom-free participants, and showed that those who developed future depressive symptoms (as compared with those who remained symptom-free) obtained elevated reassurance-seeking scores at baseline, when all participants were symptom-free, but did not obtain elevated scores on other interpersonal variables. Studies 5 and 6 indicate that reassurance seeking predicts future depressive reactions to stress. Taken together, the six studies support the construct validity of reassurance seeking, as well as its potential role as a specific vulnerability factor for depression.     

Depressive Symptoms and Conversational Self-Focus in Adolescents’ Friendships

This multi-method, longitudinal study considered the interplay among depressive symptoms, aversive interpersonal behavior, and interpersonal rejection in early and middle adolescents’ friendships. In particular, the study examined a newly identified interpersonal process, conversational self-focus (i.e., the tendency to redirect conversations about problems to focus on the self). Traditional interpersonal theories of depression suggest that individuals with depressive symptoms engage in aversive behaviors (such as conversational self-focus) and are rejected by others. However, in the current study, not all adolescents with depressive symptoms engaged in conversational self-focus and were rejected by friends. Instead, conversational self-focus moderated prospective relations of depressive symptoms and later friendship problems such that only adolescents with depressive symptoms who engaged in conversational self-focus were rejected by friends. These findings are consistent with current conceptualizations of the development of psychopathology that highlight heterogeneity among youth who share similar symptoms and the possibility of multifinality of outcomes.     

Adult attachment and feedback‐seeking patterns in relationships and work

Adults with different attachment orientations rely on different areas of life to maintain self‐views. This paper reports two studies that examine the link between attachment and feedback‐seeking patterns in interpersonal and competence‐related domains. Participants in Study 1 imagined receiving feedback from a friend. Participants in Study 2 completed dyadic tasks and were promised feedback from interpersonal‐ and competence‐relevant sources. Across both studies, secure individuals consistently chose the most positive feedback. Individuals high in attachment avoidance sought negative feedback over positive, although dismissing‐avoidant individuals sought positive hypothetical feedback about autonomy. Study 2 further suggested that highly avoidant individuals were more open to negative feedback than positive feedback and than were secure individuals. Moreover, individuals high in attachment anxiety failed to seek positive interpersonal feedback but pursued interpersonal over competence feedback. Results highlight the role of feedback‐seeking in maintenance of positive or negative self‐views for adults with different attachment orientations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Cognitive-Interpersonal Approach to Depressive Symptoms in Preadolescent Children

Cognitive and interpersonal aspects of depressive symptoms were investigated in a community sample of children. Eighty-one 8- to 12-year-olds completed scales assessing cognitive representations of social relationships and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Teachers provided ratings of peer rejection. Children with elevated levels of depressive symptoms displayed increased negativity in their beliefs about self, family, and peers, as well as distinct patterns of interpersonal information processing. Anxiety symptoms did not make a unique contribution beyond depression to negative representations of family and peers; in contrast, symptom-specific profiles of self-representations were found. Structural equation analysis supported a model linking negative interpersonal representations, peer rejection, and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that future studies may benefit from approaches that incorporate both cognitive and interpersonal variables as predictors of child depression.     

Self‐confirmation strivings in depression: An extension to the affective domain using an experimental design

The purpose of the present study was to compare the emotional reactions of depressed and nondepressed individuals to experiences of romantic rejection versus acceptance. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 28 depressed and 43 nondepressed undergraduate students. In support of self‐consistency theories, the results showed that depressed individuals reported significantly greater negative mood in the romantic acceptance versus rejection condition, while there was no significant difference across the two conditions in the self‐reported mood of nondepressed individuals. Further, symptoms of anxiety mediated the interactive effects of depression status and rejection status on mood. Our findings demonstrate how the responses of depressed individuals to interpersonal feedback contribute to their affective disturbance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elucidating the relation between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms in adulthood: The mediating role of maladaptive interpersonal processes

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to assess the potential unique and relative mediating effects of three interpersonal risk factors (i.e., excessive reassurance-seeking [ERS], negative feedback seeking [NFS], and rejection sensitivity [RS]) in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and depressive symptoms.MethodOne hundred eighty-five undergraduates were followed over a four-month interval. Participants completed assessments of childhood abuse history, ERS, NFS, and RS, and depressive symptoms at baseline, as well as depressive symptoms at four-month followup.ResultsFindings from single-mediator analyses indicated that RS and NFS, but not ERS, mediated the relationship between CEA and prospective depressive symptoms, after accounting for childhood sexual and physical abuse, as well as baseline depressive symptoms. In our multi-mediator model, only RS remained a significant mediator of the relationship between CEA and prospective depressive symptoms.ConclusionsThe current study provides preliminary evidence that negative behavioral styles may function as a mechanism linking prior experiences of CEA to subsequent depressive symptoms. Clinical implications of these findings suggest that targeting maladaptive behavioral tendencies, particularly RS, may be an effective adjunct in behavioral modification treatments of CEA victims at risk for depression.     

Negative interpretation bias as a mechanism of the relationship between rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms

Rejection sensitivity and negative cognitive biases have been identified as important risk factors for depression. Rejection sensitivity is defined as the tendency to anxiously anticipate, easily perceive, and overreact to rejection. Although prior studies have found an association between one component of rejection sensitivity, the tendency to anxiously anticipate rejection, and depression, little is known about the mechanisms through which anxious anticipation of rejection might confer depression risk. One possibility is that rejection anticipation leads to negatively biased interpretations, a cognitive risk factor for depression. Results from two studies (one cross-sectional, one longitudinal) indicate that negative interpretation biases mediate the association between the anxious anticipation of rejection and depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that interpretation biases represent a mechanism through which anxious anticipation of rejection confers risk for depression, and suggest that interventions designed to challenge negative interpretations may help to decrease depression risk among individuals who anticipate rejection.     

Does Worrying Mean Caring Too Much? Interpersonal Prototypicality of Dimensional Worry Controlling for Social Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

Worry, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms are dimensions that have each been linked to heterogeneous problems in interpersonal functioning. However, the relationships between these symptoms and interpersonal difficulties remain unclear given that most studies have examined diagnostic categories, not accounted for symptoms’ shared variability due to general distress, and investigated only interpersonal problems (neglecting interpersonal traits, interpersonal goals, social behavior in daily life, and reports of significant others). To address these issues, students (Study 1; N = 282) endorsed symptoms and interpersonal circumplex measures of traits and problems, as well as event-contingent social behaviors during one week of naturalistic daily interactions (N = 184; 7,036 records). Additionally, depressed and anxious patients (N = 47) reported symptoms and interpersonal goals in a dyadic relationship, and significant others rated patients’ interpersonal goals and impact (Study 2). We derived hypotheses about prototypical interpersonal features from theories about the functions of particular symptoms and social behaviors. As expected, worry was uniquely associated with prototypically affiliative tendencies across all self-report measures in both samples, but predicted impacting significant others in unaffiliative ways. As also hypothesized, social anxiety was uniquely and prototypically associated with low dominance across measures, and general distress was associated with cold-submissive tendencies. Findings for depressive symptoms provided less consistent evidence for unique prototypical interpersonal features. Overall, results suggest the importance of multimethod assessment and accounting for general distress in interpersonal models of worry, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms.     

背外侧前额叶对主动遗忘负性社会反馈的作用：针对抑郁症的TMS研究

抑郁症患者的负性心境可能源于其抑制功能障碍。患者在主动遗忘负性材料时无法有效调用背外侧前额叶(the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC)等负责抑制控制的额叶脑网络。同时, 患者对社会信息的加工比对非社会信息的加工存在更明显的认知神经障碍, 很难主动遗忘对自己不利的社会反馈信息。为了提高抑郁症患者对负性社会反馈的主动遗忘能力, 本研究采用经颅磁刺激技术(transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS), 考察抑郁症患者在左侧(n = 32)或右侧DLPFC (n = 30)被激活后其记忆控制能力的改变。结果表明, 当患者的DLPFC被TMS激活时, 他们对社会拒绝的回忆正确率与健康对照组(n = 31)无差异, 且TMS激活右侧DLPFC还改善了患者对他人的社会态度。本研究是采用TMS提高抑郁症患者主动遗忘能力的首次尝试, 研究结果不但支持了DLPFC与记忆控制功能的因果关系, 还为临床治疗抑郁症、创伤后应激障碍、药物成瘾等患者的记忆控制缺陷提供了明确的神经靶点。     

The symptom perception hypothesis revised: depression and anxiety play different roles in concurrent and retrospective physical symptom reporting

According to the classic symptom perception hypothesis (Costa & McCrae, 1987; Watson & Pennebaker, 1989), the global predisposition to frequently experience a variety of negative emotions-that is, neuroticism (N) or trait negative affectivity (NA)-is associated with inflated physical symptom reporting. We tested a revision of this hypothesis, which posits distinctive roles for depression and anxiety in the physical symptom experience. Three studies tested predictions from the revised symptom perception hypothesis: (a) that depressive affect should be related to inflated retrospective physical symptom reports and (b) that anxious affect should be related to inflated concurrent, or momentary, physical symptom reports. Study 1 assessed the relations among N/NA, depressive affect, and recall of physical symptoms experienced in the previous 3 weeks. Depressive affect was uniquely and positively associated with recalling more symptoms. When entered with depressive affect in multiple regression analyses, neuroticism was not associated with level of symptoms recalled. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to anxious, depressed, angry, happy, or neutral mood inductions and then reported about concurrent symptom experience. Participants in the anxious mood condition reported significantly more concurrent physical symptoms than did those in the other 4 conditions. In Study 3, anxious, depressed, or neutral mood was induced, followed by assessment of both concurrent and retrospective physical symptoms. Those assigned to the anxious mood induction reported more concurrent symptoms, while those in the depressed mood condition reported having experienced more symptoms in the past. These findings are consistent with the idea that encoding and retrieval processes, which are differentially associated with anxious versus depressed affect, influence different aspects of physical symptom reporting. The results have implications for self-diagnosis, medical treatment-seeking, and care, and potential insights about other complex social and interpersonal behaviors are discussed.     

Let it be: Accepting negative emotional experiences predicts decreased negative affect and depressive symptoms

The present studies examined whether a tendency to accept negative emotional experiences buffers individuals from experiencing elevated negative affect during negative emotional situations (Study 1) and from developing depressive symptoms in the face of life stress (Study 2). Both studies examined female samples. This research expands on existing acceptance research in four ways. First, it examined whether acceptance has beneficial correlates when it matters most: in emotionally taxing (versus more neutral) contexts. Second, in Study 2 a prospective design was used in which acceptance was measured before stress was encountered and before outcomes were measured. Third, depressive symptoms (rather than general functioning or trauma symptoms) were examined as a particularly relevant outcome in the context of stress. Fourth, to enhance generalizability, a community sample (versus undergraduates or a purely clinical sample) was recruited. Results indicated that acceptance was correlated with decreased negative affect during a negative emotion induction but not an affectively neutral condition (Study 1). In Study 2, acceptance interacted with life stress such that acceptance predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms after higher, but not lower, life stress. These results suggest that accepting negative experiences may protect individuals from experiencing negative affect and from developing depressive symptoms.     

Predictors of the first onset of a major depressive episode and changes in depressive symptoms across adolescence: stress and negative cognitions

This 6-year longitudinal study examined stressors (e.g., interpersonal, achievement), negative cognitions (self-worth, attributions), and their interactions in the prediction of (a) the first onset of a major depressive episode (MDE), and (b) changes in depressive symptoms in adolescents who varied in risk for depression. The sample included 240 adolescents who were first evaluated in Grade 6 (M = 11.86 years old; SD = 0.57; 54.2% female) and then again annually through Grade 12. Stressful life events and depressive diagnoses were assessed with interviews; negative cognitions and depressive symptoms were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Discrete time hazard modeling revealed a significant interaction between interpersonal stressors and negative cognitions, indicating that first onset of an MDE was predicted by high negative cognitions in the context of low interpersonal stress, and by high levels of interpersonal stressors at both high and low levels of negative cognitions. Analyses of achievement stressors indicated significant main effects of stress, negative cognitions, and risk in the prediction of an MDE, but no interactions. With regard to the prediction of depressive symptoms, multilevel modeling revealed a significant interaction between interpersonal stressors and negative cognitions such that among adolescents with more negative cognitions, higher levels of interpersonal stress predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms, whereas at low levels of negative cognitions, the relation between interpersonal stressors and depression was not significant. Risk (i.e., maternal depression history) and sex did not further moderate these interactions. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Interpersonal predictors of onset of depression during the transition to adulthood

There is evidence that depression during adolescence and early adulthood is marked by deficits in interpersonal functioning. However, few studies have prospectively examined whether interpersonal difficulties are a risk factor for depression onset, so it is unclear whether these deficits in interpersonal functioning are products or predictors of depression. The present study aimed to clarify the direction of association between interpersonal factors and depression by examining whether social factors longitudinally predicted onset of depression in a diverse sample of young women with no history of depression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for baseline depressive symptoms indicated that poorer family relationship quality and anxious attachment cognitions predicted onset of depressive episodes during the 2‐year period. Further, a wide variety of interpersonal factors predicted depressive symptoms over 6 months, including poor peer and family relationship quality, difficulty being close to others, and difficulty depending on others, controlling for baseline depressive symptoms and college attendance. The results provide evidence for the importance of an interpersonal perspective on vulnerability to depression.     

Self-Perceived Competence as a Mediator Between Maternal Feedback and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

Self-report, other-report, clinical interview, and behavioral observations of evaluative maternal feedback (e.g., positive feedback, criticism), adolescent depressive symptoms, and self-perceived competence were obtained from 72 adolescents and their mothers. Most path analyses supported the hypothesis that adolescent self-perceived competence completely mediates the relation between negative maternal feedback and adolescent depressive symptoms, even after controlling for prior levels of depression. Consistent with Cole's competency-based model of depression (D. A. Cole, 1990), these results suggest that high levels of negative maternal feedback (coupled with low levels of positive feedback) are associated with adolescent negative self-perceptions, which in turn place adolescents at risk for depressive symptoms.