Researchers and theorists have suggested that two personality styles may serve
as pathways for the development of depression. One personality style, sociotropy,
involves intense needs for positive interchange with others, whereas the other style,
autonomy, involves an excessive need for self-control and independence. These
personality styles were investigated in the context of Coyne's (1976) interpersonal
model of depression, which suggests that depressed persons are rejected by others.
Research on this model has been equivocal, and it is possible that these two
personality dimensions result in meaningful interpersonal differences within depressed
persons. Depressed outpatients, (N=41) and non-depressed controls (N=41) were
assessed on sociotropy and autonomy and then participated in a brief task in which a
research assistant helped them plan adaptive life changes. These interactions were
rated subjectively and utilizing behavioural coding. Results indicated that a
combination of depression and autonomy were particularly likely to lead to rejection
and less positive interpersonal behaviours. Sociotropy was related to perceptions of
interpersonal deference, whereas depression was associated with self-orientation in
the task. These results suggest that both depression and personality impact rejection
and interpersonal behaviours in social interactions. Overall, this study represents a
significant step toward greater specificity in the interpersonal model of depression, and
clinical implications of these findings are described.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6723 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Bieling, Peter J. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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