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An Examination of Integrated Cognitive-Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depression: The Role of Rumination, Perceived Social Support, and Interpersonal Stress Generation

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Abstract

This research examined an integration of cognitive and interpersonal theories of depression by investigating the prospective contribution of depressive rumination to perceptions of social support, the generation of interpersonal stress, and depressive symptoms. It was hypothesized that depressive ruminators would generate stress in their relationships, and that social support discontent would account for this association. Further, depressive rumination and dependent interpersonal stress were examined as joint and unique predictors of depressive symptoms over time. Participants included 122 undergraduate students (M age = 19.78 years, SD = 3.54) who completed assessments of depressive rumination, perceptions of social support, life stress, and depressive symptoms across three waves, each spaced 9 months apart. Results revealed that social support discontent accounted for the prospective association between depressive rumination and dependent interpersonal stress, and that both depressive rumination and dependent interpersonal stress contributed to elevations in depressive symptoms over time. These findings highlight the complex interplay between cognitive and interpersonal processes that confer vulnerability to depression, and have implications for the development of integrated depression-focused intervention endeavors.

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Notes

  1. To investigate whether cognitive risk status influenced any patterns of effects, supplemental path analyses were conducted that controlled for cognitive risk status. Including cognitive risk status did not alter the significance of the paths between any of the key study variables, and significantly decreased the strength of the model fit indices. Accordingly, the reported results do not adjust for cognitive risk status.

  2. Interpersonal events reflecting perceptions of social support were removed from analyses due to content overlap with social support discontent (i.e., “Had no one to confide in,” “Had fewer friends than would like or rarely sought out by others for activities,” “Rarely received affection, respect, or interest from friends,” “Live alone and see other people less often than would like”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Megan Flynn & Lauren B. Alloy

  2. Argosy University, Washington, DC, USA

    Jelena Kecmanovic

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Correspondence to Megan Flynn.

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Flynn, M., Kecmanovic, J. & Alloy, L.B. An Examination of Integrated Cognitive-Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depression: The Role of Rumination, Perceived Social Support, and Interpersonal Stress Generation. Cogn Ther Res 34, 456–466 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-010-9300-8

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