Forty-four pairs of college roommates were studied across their first academic quarter. In 22 pairs, one person was depressed at the outset (Beck Depression Inventory (GREATERTHEQ) 10). They completed written measures of depression and their perceptions of themselves and their roommates three times (Interpersonal Checklist, Impact Message Inventory) and attended two laboratory sessions in which they engaged in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game procedure and were interviewed. In addition to major analyses (primarily repeated measures anovas), subjects who remained depressed were compared with those who did not; and regression analyses addressed which factors predicted the depressive's view of the relationship and satisfaction with it. / Depressed subjects described themselves as consistently more dependent and self-effacing and their relationships as ultimately involving fewer egalitarian solutions to conflicts. In terms of perceptions and communications, depressed pairs showed patterns over time that did not occur in the nondepressed pairs; Depressives were initially viewed as more nurturant; their roommates, in contrast, as increasingly sociable. Similarly, the depressives' roommates communicated a high depress of ingratiation initially but less so over time, whereas the depressives increasingly communicated ingratiation. These group-by-time interactions suggest a pattern wherein the roommates exchange roles, with the depressive initially adopting a more positive and dominant style than previously reported. Depressed pairs also interacted in a more ingratiating and less exploitive manner and remained unchanged whereas the other pairs became more cooperative and less exploitive. Subjects who stayed depressed differed from those whose depression remitted, both initially and in changes over time. Regressions indicated that the nature of the depressives' relationships could be predicted by initial elements of the relationship and the lifting of depression. / Results are discussed as partially supporting the interactional sequences proposed by Coyne (1976a) and Hokanson (Note 1). The most notable finding, that depressives were initially more dominant and appear to exchange roles with their partners is discussed as a pattern that may only occur in relationships of ongoing importance to the depressive. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-09, Section: B, page: 3031. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74933 |
| Contributors | HOWES, MARY JOSEPHINE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 95 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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