An interactive-synergetic approach to the assessment of personality vulnerability to depression: Illustration using the adolescent version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire.
Research on personality vulnerability to depression is characterized by a "main effect" approach, often at the expense of examining interactions among various dimensions of vulnerability. To compare the "main effect" and "interactive-synergetic" approaches, we utilized data from a longitudinal study of adolescent adjustment. Focusing on dependency, self-criticism, and efficacy, the three factors of the adolescent version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, Schaffer, Bers, & Quinlan, 1992), we found support for the interactive-synergetic approach. Dependency and self-criticism interacted in predicting changes in depressive and internalizing symptoms (under low efficacy), and among boys-changes in internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results illuminate the synergetic interplay among dimensions of risk and resilience in clinical research and practice.
Shahar
Golan
G
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. golan.shahar@yale.edu
Gallagher
Elizabeth F
EF
Blatt
Sidney J
SJ
Kuperminc
Gabriel P
GP
Leadbeater
Bonnie J
BJ
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D010555:Personality Inventory; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011594:Psychometrics; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D012917:Social Adjustment