Vulnerability to depressive symptoms: Clarifying the role of excessive reassurance seeking and perceived social support in an interpersonal model of depression

Abstract

This study investigated whether key constructs in Coyne's (1976) interpersonal theory of depression, namely excessive reassurance seeking and social support, combine to confer risk for future depressive symptoms. Consistent with hypotheses, excessive reassurance seeking interacted with changes in perceived social support to predict the prospective development of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the interaction of excessive reassurance seeking and changes in perceived social support were specific to the development of depressive symptoms, but not anxious symptoms. The implications of these results for the interpersonal theories of depression are discussed.

First authorship of this article is shared jointly by Gerald J. Haeffel and Zachary R. Voelz.

First authorship of this article is shared jointly by Gerald J. Haeffel and Zachary R. Voelz.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Nicole McNeil for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Notes

First authorship of this article is shared jointly by Gerald J. Haeffel and Zachary R. Voelz.

¹To test the assumption of homogeneity of covariance, we added all two-way interactions between the covariate and predictor variables to the final step of the regression equation (see Joiner, 1994b). Consistent with the assumption of homogeneity of covariance, the main analyses remained significant and all covariate by predictor variable interactions were not significant.