Work

Depression Proneness and Reactions to a Depressive Stimulus

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: In the context of a project examining depression vulnerability and cigarette smoking, the authors tested whether depression-vulnerable people differed from less vulnerable people in their reactions to a depressive stimulus. Regular smokers with a history of depression but not currently depressed (n = 63) and never-depressed smokers (n = 64) listened to audiotapes of confederates reading depressive and nondepressive scripts and reported their reactions. Neither a history of depression nor self-reported depression proneness predicted reactions to depression. However, depression proneness was positively correlated with beliefs about depression contagion. Likewise, stronger depression-related contagion beliefs and lower levels of empathic responding predicted behavioral rejection of the depressive stimulus.

Source: The Journal of Psychology

DOI: 10.3200/jrlp.140.1.69-79

Authors: Rachel A. Wernicke, Michelle Y. Pearlman, Frances P. Thorndike, David A. F. Haaga

Institution: American University

Language: English

Topic: Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Cancer Institute