Self-focused attention, coping responses, and distressed mood in everyday life.
Several questions concerning the relation between self-focused attention and depressed mood were examined: (a) Does the association involve global negative affect, rather than sadness per se? (b) is self-focus associated with specific negative affects other than sadness? and (c) does the association occur at the between-subjects or within-subject level? Also hypothesized was that self-focus is associated with coping responses that may perpetuate negative mood. In an idiographic/nomothetic design, 40 male community residents completed daily reports for 30 days. Results suggest that self-focus is linked with global negative mood as well as specific negative affects other than sadness and that the association occurs on a between-persons, rather than a day-to-day within-person, basis. In addition, highly self-focused men reported using passive and ruminative coping styles, which in turn were associated with distressed affect.
Wood
J V
JV
State University of New York, Stony Brook.
Saltzberg
J A
JA
Neale
J M
JM
Stone
A A
AA
Rachmiel
T B
TB
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010556:Personality Tests; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology