Predicting negative partner attitudes toward depressed persons: An empirical evaluation of three theories.
Creators: name: Benazon, Nili.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1997
Subjects: subject: Psychology, Social.

description: Interpersonal theories of depression have been proposed to explain the negativity that characterizes the relationships of depressed persons. However, past tests of these theories have been limited by their focus on brief contacts between strangers, and the operationalization of negativity on the part of others in terms of interpersonal rejection. The present study examined Coyne's (1976a) interactional model and that of Swann and his colleagues (Swann, Wenzlaff, Krull, &amp; Pelham, 1992). Whereas Coyne postulates that depressed persons are rejected by their partners because they engage in excessive reassurance seeking, Swann et al. argue that depressed persons elicit rejection because they attempt to bring their partner's appraisal of them into congruence with their own self-view. Yet neither of these two perspectives emphasizes the characteristics of the partner that may influence their attitude toward the depressed patient. The work of Nolen-Hoeksema can be seen as a way of understanding how partners' efforts to manage the effect of the patient's depression on them may contribute to their overall negative attitude. Namely, partners who ruminate rather than distract themselves from the patient's depression may develop a more negative attitude toward them. The present study examined the utility of these three theories in predicting the negative attitudes of partners toward depressed patients. Subjects were drawn from outpatient clinics that specialized in mood disorders. Ninety patients (n = 32 male patients, n = 58 female patients) and their partners participated in the study and were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, &amp; Williams, 1995) to assess for major depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder. Gender differences were explored for both patient and partner variables, but few differences were found. Each model was tested in a conventional manner against the null hypothesis of no relations between the predictors specified by these theories and two measures of partner attitudes: Support and tolerance, and expressed emotion. Next, in a series of exploratory analyses, the models were subjected to a more stringent test by examining whether the effects of these theoretical variables persisted after partner marital adjustment was taken into account. Consistent with Coyne's interactional model, patient and partner mood were correlated, and patient reassurance seeking and partner depressed mood contributed to negative partner attitudes. Contradicting Swann et al.'s theory of self-verification, patient-partner discrepancy in evaluation of the patient did not predict a negative partner attitude. Partial support was found for a formulation based on Nolen-Hoeksema's theory of coping in that ruminative, but not distractive coping was related to negative attitudes toward patients. Overall, each model obtained some support, but the strength of that support depended on the dependent variable examined, and support for the models decreased after controlling for marital adjustment. The consistently strong relation between partner marital adjustment and partner attitudes toward the depressed patient underscores the importance of taking overall marital adjustment into account in efforts to explain the interpersonal dynamics associated with depression among married persons. Results are discussed in terms of the difficulties moving from theories grounded in the study of fleeting contacts between strangers to interpersonal processes occurring in enduring close relationships.