Sex Differences in Stress Generation: An Examination of Sociotropy/Autonomy, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms

Hammen (1991) proposed that both individual characteristics and depressive symptomatology may explain the stress generation process, in which individuals contribute, in part, to a more stressful environment for themselves. Nonetheless, research has not teased apart the impact of vulnerability factor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2006-04, Vol.32 (4), p.434-446
Main Author: Shih, Josephine H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Autonomy
College students
Depression
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Female
Gender differences
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Life Change Events
Male
Mental depression
Personal Autonomy
Personality Disorders - diagnosis
Personality Disorders - epidemiology
Personality Inventory
Prospective Studies
Social psychology
Sociotropy
Stress
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
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Summary:Hammen (1991) proposed that both individual characteristics and depressive symptomatology may explain the stress generation process, in which individuals contribute, in part, to a more stressful environment for themselves. Nonetheless, research has not teased apart the impact of vulnerability factors and depressive symptomatology on this process. Ninety-nine college students, selected to be variable on personality vulnerabilities of sociotropy and autonomy, were followed for 6 weeks. Weekly depressive symptoms and stressful life events that were likely caused in part by the individual (dependent stress) were assessed. Multilevel modeling results indicated that prior-week depressive symptoms significantly predicted current-week dependent interpersonal stress levels. A significant sex-by-sociotropy effect emerged such that being female and scoring high on sociotropy predicted higher levels of dependent interpersonal stress. This interpersonal stress generation effect for women partially mediated the relationship between sociotropy and depressive symptoms.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167205282739