Excessive reassurance seeking: delineating a risk factor involved in the development of depressive symptoms.
Six studies investigated (a) the construct validity of reassurance seeking and (b) reassurance seeking as a specific vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that reassurance seeking is a reasonably cohesive, replicable, and valid construct, discernible from related interpersonal variables. Study 3 demonstrated that reassurance seeking displayed diagnostic specificity to depression, whereas other interpersonal variables did not, in a sample of clinically diagnosed participants. Study 4 prospectively assessed a group of initially symptom-free participants, and showed that those who developed future depressive symptoms (as compared with those who remained symptom-free) obtained elevated reassurance-seeking scores at baseline, when all participants were symptom-free, but did not obtain elevated scores on other interpersonal variables. Studies 5 and 6 indicate that reassurance seeking predicts future depressive reactions to stress. Taken together, the six studies support the construct validity of reassurance seeking, as well as its potential role as a specific vulnerability factor for depression.
Joiner
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Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1270, USA. joiner@psy.fsu.edu
Metalsky
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology