Insecure Attachment,Gender Roles,and Interpersonal Dependency in the Basque Country

Gender, gender role, and attachment style were used to predict emotional and instrumental dependency in a Basque student sample (N = 602). Psychometrically sound Spanish adaptations of English–language measures of dependency and attachment were created. As predicted, women were more emotionally and instrumentally dependent than men, but the sex differences were mediated by psychological masculinity and femininity. The anxious attachment dimension was correlated with emotional and instrumental dependency, the preoccupied rating with emotional dependency, and the avoidant attachment dimension and fearful rating with instrumental dependency. When the two attachment dimensions and the two gender–role variables were combined to predict dependency, emotional dependency was a function of anxious attachment and femininity; instrumental dependency was a function of anxious and avoidant attachment and low masculinity. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Adaptive and Maladaptive Dependency in Bereavement: Distinguishing Prolonged and Resolved Grief Trajectories

Interpersonal dependency is typically viewed as a risk factor for prolonged grief among conjugally bereaved adults. However, emerging empirical evidence and theoretical advances suggest that one manifestation of interpersonal dependency – adaptive dependency – may serve as a protective factor in coping with loss. This study compared adaptive and maladaptive dependency across three matched groups: prolonged grievers, asymptomatically bereaved adults, and a married comparison group. Results suggest a link between adaptive dependency and asymptomatic bereavement, and between maladaptive dependency and prolonged grief.     

Relationships of Objective and Projective Dependency Scores to Sex Role Orientation in College Student Participants

Research on the dependency-sex rote orientation relationship indicates that when objective dependency measures are used, participants show positive correlations between dependency and femininity scores, and negative correlations between dependency and masculinity scores. In this study, a mixed-sex sample of 87 undergraduates (47 women and 40 men) completed widely used objective and projective measures of dependency, and a self-report measure of sex role orientation. Consistent with previous studies in this area, high objective dependency scores were associated with high femininity scores and low masculinity scores in participants of both sexes. There were no relationships between projective dependency scores and sex role orientation scores in participants of either sex. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical frameworks that distinguish implicit dependency needs from "self-attributed" dependency needs. The role that sex role socialization experiences play in determining participants' willingness to acknowledge dependency-related traits and behaviors on self-report tests is also discussed.     

Dispersed and Undispersed Dependency

Abstract

This study was aimed at developing a measure of Kelly's concept of dispersion of dependency and providing evidence for its usefulness in differentiating degree of dispersion of dependency. Smith and Grassle's (1977) adaptation of Hurlbert's diversity index, a measure used by biologists to differentiate degrees of species diversity, was applied to dependency grids, specifically “being helped” grids. The diversity index was shown to be both useful in differentiating prototypes of relatively dispersed and undispersed grids and robust. Furthermore, evidence was provided for its predictive validity using predictions made by Kelly concerning dependency construing associated with differences in dispersion of dependency. Greater dispersion of dependency was related to making more discriminations about dependencies, and undispersed dependency was related to relatively impermeable and preemptive construing. Thus the measure was shown to be satisfactory for identifying dispersion of dependency, such that, used in this context, it could be aptly renamed the dispersion of dependency index.     

Face Validity and Fakability of Objective and Projective Measures of Dependency

Three studies involving a total of 225 subjects examined the relationship between the face validity and "fakability" (i.e., susceptibility to faking on the part of subjects) of widely used objective and projective dependency tests. in Study 1, subjects (n = 75) were able to accurately identify the trait being assessed by an objective dependency test but were unable to identify the trait being assessed by a projective dependency test. Study 2 demonstrated that subjects (n = 75) could deliberately fake their answers to the objective dependency test but could not fake their answers to the projective test. Study 3 demonstrated that subjects (n = 75) responses to the objective dependency test were influenced by an instructional manipulation wherein dependency was described in a positive, negative, or neutral manner immediately prior to test administration, whereas subjects responses to the projective dependency test were unaffected by this manipulation. These results suggest that there is an inverse relationship between the face validity and fakability of widely used objective and projective dependency tests. Conceptual and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Unpacking outcome dependency: Differentiating effects of dependency and outcome desirability on the processing of goal-relevant information

Outcome dependency has been shown to have a substantial impact on impression formation. Perhaps because the outcome dependency variable is a composite variable (including variation in amount of dependency, desirability of outcome, or both), many different effects have been described by researchers. The current research unpacks the outcome dependency variable by separately examining effects of dependency (when outcome desirability is held constant) and effects of outcome desirability (when amount of dependency is held constant). Using research methods adapted from those used in the attitudes domain, variation in the amount of dependency on a target person influenced the level of objective processing of target information (when outcomes were not substantial, Experiment 1), but variation in the desirability of the outcomes influenced biases in the processing of information (when dependency was relatively high, Experiment 2). Furthermore, personal motivation mediated effects of desirable outcomes on positive biases in processing (Experiment 3).     

A measure of interpersonal dependency

Interpersonal dependency refers to a complex of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors revolving around needs to associate closely with valued other people. Its conceptual sources include the psychoanalytic theory of object relations, social learning theories of dependency, and the ethological theory of attachment. A review of existing self-report inventories revealed none that adequately assessed interpersonal dependency. A new 48-item self-report inventory which assesses interpersonal dependency in adults was developed using a sample of 220 normals and 180 psychiatric patients. It was cross-validated on two additional samples. Three components of interpersonal dependency emerged: emotional reliance on another person, lack of social self-confidence, and assertion of autonomy. The relationship of these components with normals and patients was discussed, as well as with the concepts of attachment and dependency.     

基于预期理论的参照依赖

参照依赖是指个体基于某一参照点对得失价值进行判断:参照点之上,个体感受为收益,反之即为损失.参照依赖现象广泛存在于生活中的各种领域.当前,对参照依赖心理机制的解释主要有预期理论、后悔理论和三阶段参照点理论.参照依赖的影响因素主要包括经验、情绪状态、文化、目标和认知对象的特点等.未来的研究应主要集中于参照依赖的产生根源,深入探讨参照依赖的神经机制,加强动态参照点、多重参照点以及群体中参照依赖现象的研究.     

Passive‐Submissive and Active‐Emotional Trait Dependency: Evidence for a Two‐Factor Model

ABSTRACT Dependency plays an important role in both normal and abnormal personality, but the construct remains loosely defined, both in clinical practice and the research literature. Moreover, although a number of measures purport to measure trait dependency, little agreement exists as to the structure of dependency within or across these instruments. Furthermore, what constitutes the low end of trait dependency remains unclear. Five hundred nine undergraduates completed a battery of 14 dependency scales and subscales, a subset of whom (n=322) also completed a broad measure of personality pathology (SNAP‐2). Exploratory factor analysis of the dependency measures yielded two correlated factors—Passive‐Submissive and Active‐Emotional dependency—as well as a third, unrelated factor, Detachment/Autonomy, all with differential correlates to the pathological personality traits of the SNAP‐2. Taken together, these data suggest a clear, 2‐factor model for trait dependency that is distinct from detachment/autonomy.     

Dependency,Imitation Learning,and the Process of Identification

Social learning theory posits a relationship between dependency and imitation learning. Since the previous findings regarding this postulate were inconclusive, a study to clarify the relationship between dependency and imitation learning was implemented with use of 73 preschool children. Instrumental dependency and emotional dependency were measured by a naturalistic behavioral observation technique. Purposive and incidental imitation learning were taught by modeling procedures. The children's degree of emotional dependency was found related to their propensity to imitate the model's irrelevant behavior (i.e., incidental learning). While the nature of the postulated relationship remained unclear, the results suggested that sex and age were influential factors.     

Deconstructing dependency in a five-factor world: a meta-analytic review

Meta-analysis of studies assessing the relation between interpersonal dependency test scores and five-factor model (FFM) domain scores revealed that dependency scores are positively correlated with FFM Neuroticism and Agreeableness scores and negatively correlated with FFM Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness scores. The magnitudes of these correlations were all in the small-to-moderate range, and comparable score intercorrelations were obtained when participants' dependency levels were assessed by means of a trait dependency questionnaire, dependent personality disorder questionnaire, or dependent personality disorder interview. These findings have implications for researchers' efforts to deconstruct dependency into its basic trait elements and for the dimensional approaches to personality disorders being considered for future versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.     

MMPI X and Zero Items in a Psychiatric Outpatient Group

One of the most intriguing characteristics of interpersonal dependency is its ability to predict elevated levels of social support. Yet studies of interpersonal dependency use various measures to assess this effect. In this study, I compared 3 commonly used measures of interpersonal dependency in terms of their prediction of social support: Hirschfield's Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI; Hirschfeld et al., 1977), the dependency factor of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976), and the Dependency subscale of the Personal Style Inventory (PSI; Robins et al., 1994). A total of 152 undergraduates were administered these measures as well as measures of depressive symptoms and social support a week prior to their first exam period and a week after this period (interval time = 8 weeks). DEQ–dependency predicted an increase in social support, whereas PSI–Dependency and IDI predicted a decrease in social support over time. DEQ–dependency appears to capture better than the other 2 measures the dialectic tension between risk and resilience in interpersonal dependency.     

Suggested Refinement of Rorschach Scoring

Eighty-three undergraduate subjects (58 women and 25 men) participated in a prospective study in which they (a) completed widely used objective and projective measures of dependency, and then (b) provided monthly reports of the frequency and impact of various types of life events during a 1-semester (3-month) period. As expected, subjects' projective dependency scores predicted their frequency estimates and impact ratings of interpersonal life events but were unrelated to frequency estimates and impact ratings of other types of life events (e.g., achievement-related, legal). Objective dependency scores were unrelated to all life event frequency estimates and impact ratings. Findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical frameworks that distinguish implicit dependency needs (which are assessed via projective measures) from self-attributed dependency needs (which are assessed via self-report tests). The importance of the type of dependency measure used in studies of the dependency-life events relationship is emphasized.     

Differential relationships of objective and projective dependency scores to self-reports of interpersonal life events in college student subjects

Eighty-three undergraduate subjects (58 women and 25 men) participated in a prospective study in which they (a) completed widely used objective and projective measures of dependency, and then (b) provided monthly reports of the frequency and impact of various types of life events during a 1-semester (3-month) period. As expected, subjects' projective dependency scores predicted their frequency estimates and impact ratings of interpersonal life events but were unrelated to frequency estimates and impact ratings of other types of life events (e.g., achievement-related, legal). Objective dependency scores were unrelated to all life event frequency estimates and impact ratings. Findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical frameworks that distinguish implicit dependency needs (which are assessed via projective measures) from self-attributed dependency needs (which are assessed via self-report tests). The importance of the type of dependency measure used in studies of the dependency-life events relationship is emphasized.     

Don't leave me: the effect of dependency and emotions in relationship conflict

Two studies examined how the effect of dependency and emotions on the dynamics of relationship conflict differs between men and women. In Study 1, 96 women and 67 men were presented with conflict situations that might occur in their relationship; the probability of aggression, anger, and dependency was measured. Results showed that anger mediated the relationship between dependency and the intention to use aggression, in men, but not in women. In Study 2, 95 women and 65 men wrote about a conflict situation that they had experienced with their partner; loyalty, guilt, and dependency were measured. Results showed that dependency predicted loyalty among women, and that this effect was mediated by guilt.     

I get so lonely,baby: The effects of loneliness and social isolation on romantic dependency

Individuals lacking fulfilling interpersonal interactions may experience feelings of loneliness. Consequently, these individuals may over-rely on their romantic partners to fulfill the need to belong. This study examined the effects of loneliness and social isolation on dependency on a romantic partner in a sample of college students (N = 104). Participants who were in a romantic relationship completed measures of loneliness, social isolation, and romantic dependency near the beginning of the semester (Time 1) and approximately 6 weeks later toward the end of the semester (Time 2). Toward the beginning of the semester, there were no significant predictors of dependency. Toward the end of the semester, individuals who reported higher social isolation reported higher levels of dependency. Time 1 dependency also predicted Time 2 dependency. Future methodological directions and suggestions regarding the examination of perceptions of loneliness and relationship expectations are discussed.     

The dependent personality: developmental, social, and clinical perspectives.

Developmental, social, and clinical studies of dependency have produced remarkably consistent results. A review and integration of these findings allow strong conclusions to be drawn regarding the etiology and dynamics of dependency. The etiology of dependency appears to lie in overprotective, authoritarian parenting. In social settings, dependency is associated with suggestibility, conformity, compliance, interpersonal yielding, affiliative behavior, and sensitivity to interpersonal cues. Dependency predicts the onset of certain psychological disorders and follows the onset of others. It seems that the fundamental motivation of the dependent person, from which the behaviors that are exhibited in different situations are derived, is a strong desire to obtain and maintain nurturant, supportive relationships. Implications of these findings for different theoretical models of dependency are discussed.     

When accommodation matters: Situational dependency within daily interactions with romantic partners

This diary study examined the consequences of experiencing situational dependency within daily social interactions with romantic partners over a two-week period. As predicted, stronger felt dependency (lower influence and control) within interactions with romantic partners was associated with lower perceived acceptance and value and decreased intimacy. Also as predicted, participants who reported a greater tendency to respond to dependency dilemmas with accommodation (i.e., reduced self-protective responses and increased pro-relationship reactions) perceived relatively more acceptance, value and intimacy within - and only within - high dependency situations. These results suggest that pro-relationship regulatory reactions to situational dependency will alleviate the immediate negative outcomes associated with dependence, and it is through these situational effects that relationship maintenance behaviours (at least in part) sustain relationship quality.     

Interpersonal Dependency in Child Abuse Perpetrators and Victims: A Meta-Analytic Review

Meta-analysis of studies assessing interpersonal dependency in child abuse perpetrators (N of studies = 7) and victims (N of studies = 9) indicated that perpetrators have higher dependency levels than nonabusing controls (d = 0.43), and child abuse victims have higher dependency levels in early adulthood than people who were not abused as children (d = 0.47). An array of other personality traits and disorders showed comparable associations with abuse suggesting that in both populations increased dependency reflects a generalized increase in pathology and distress. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed, and suggestions for future research on dependency and abuse are offered.     

Anticonformity aspects of depression in mild depressive states

Controversial issues regarding the relation of conformity and anticonformity variants of dependency to depression and self-esteem were examined. The Willis-Hollander model of social influence and an experimental paradigm which permits differentiation of dependency responses into conformity and anticonformity subcategories were used. Ninety female college students who had been given the Beck Depression Inventory and a measure of self-esteem engaged in a perceptual judgment task, with two degrees of social influence. Depression and self-esteem were unrelated to independence and conformity. The main finding in the step-wise regression analyses was that depression was significantly related (p less than .001) to the anticonformity variant of dependency. The assumption that depression is related to dependency was supported, but the conventional position that such dependency consists of the conforming variant, involving compliance and approval- and guidance-seeking, was not supported, at least within the range of depression sampled.