Dependency and self-criticism as moderators of interpersonal and achievement stress: The role of initial dysphoria

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that dependency and self-criticism may increase adverse reactions to interpersonal and achievement negative life events. However, there has been insufficient attention to the rival hypothesis that these effects may result from preexisting symptoms. What appears to be a stress-enhancing effect for dependency or self-criticism may actually be a stress-enhancing effect for prior distress. This research was a prospective investigation of the role of preexisting dysphoria, dependency, and self-criticism in increasing negative reactions to interpersonal and achievement negative life events. Controlling for initial dysphoria in a prospective design, dependent subjects displayed greater increases in dysphoria following interpersonal events, but not achievement events. Highly self-critical subjects also exhibited greater increases in dysphoria following interpersonal events and displayed a trend for achievement events. However, dysphoric persons displayed greater increases in dysphoria following interpersonal, but not achievement events, suggesting that some of the observed effects for dependency and self-criticism could result from prior dysphoria. When the greater vulnerability of dysphoric persons to interpersonal events was controlled statistically, the ability of cognitive variables to predict reactivity to interpersonal events was reduced substantially.