Excessive Reassurance Seeking, Self–Esteem, and Depressive Symptoms in Children of Affectively Ill Parents: An Experience Sampling Analysis

Abstract

The current study examined whether excessive reassurance seeking serves as a vulnerability factor to depressive symptoms in a sample of children of affectively ill parents using a multiwave longitudinal design and experience sampling methodology. In addition, we examined whether self–esteem moderates the association between excessive reassurance seeking and increases in depressive symptoms following increases in negative events. At Time 1, 56 children (ages 7–14) completed measures assessing excessive reassurance seeking, low self–esteem, and depressive symptoms. Subsequently, children were given a handheld personal computer (HP Jornada 690), which signaled them to complete measures assessing depressive symptoms and negative events at six randomly selected times over an 8–week follow–up interval. In line with hypotheses, higher levels of reassurance seeking were associated with greater increases in depressive symptoms following increases in negative events. Contrary to hypotheses, however, the strength of this association was not moderated by self–esteem.