Coyne's (1976a) interpersonal theory outlines a negative cycle of interactions wherein rejection by relationship partners may exacerbate depressive symptoms. Reassurance-seeking and negative self-verification are two theoretically based moderators of the rejection-depression relationship. Sociotropy and autonomy are two personality styles believed to influence individuals' perceptions of social interactions and interpersonal functioning. In this thesis, I attempted to expand on interpersonal theory and to integrate personality styles with interpersonal variables related to depression. An online community sample of 135 married or cohabiting couples completed a series of measures that assessed depression, interpersonal behaviours, and personality styles. Depression was measured again 3 months later in 78 couples. For husbands, high levels of rejection were always associated with increased depression over time, except when husbands sought neither reassurance nor negative self-verification. This suggests that husbands are generally vulnerable to wives' rejection, except for those who limit communication. This finding was discussed in terms of the demand-withdraw cycle described in marital research. In addition, increased depression was associated with a combination of high levels of reassurance-seeking, negative self-verification, and rejection, consistent with previous research. However, unexpectedly, the highest increase in depression was associated with high levels of reassurance-seeking and rejection, but low negative self-verification. Sample differences in relationship duration may explain this finding. For wives, rejection was associated with increased depression only when they sought reassurance. Furthermore, wives who sought reassurance and were not rejected actually became less depressed. The positive role of support-seeking was discussed. Testing the integrated theory revealed that the association between sociotropy and depression, in both husbands and wives, was mediated by the combination of reassurance-seeking and rejection. This finding is consistent with Coyne's original interpersonal description of depression and accounts for past research showing an inconsistent relationship between sociotropy and depression. Furthermore, reassurance-seeking in the absence of rejection resulted in reduced change in depression. In contrast, autonomy was not related to interpersonal variables, in both husbands and wives. Exploratory analyses for husbands revealed that the relationship between autonomy and depression is complex. Finally, this thesis supports the use of internet studies for couples research. Evidence was provided to suggest that the Internet is a viable medium for conducting psychological research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/6086 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Varshney, Nicole M. |
| Contributors | Whiffen, Valerie, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 132 p. |
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