Self-Worth Appraisal of Life Events and Beck's Congruency Model of Depression Vulnerability

Abstract

Congruency theory predicts that sociotropic and autonomous individuals may experience negative life events differently, focusing primarily on the social and achievement themes of events, respectively. The present study investigated this hypothesis in 175 undergraduate students, who completed measures of sociotropy and autonomy, depressive symptoms, and life event self-worth impact appraisals. Both negative interpersonal and personal failure-related events were related to participants' senses of self-worth in the social and achievement domains, supporting a continuous model of life event classification. Sociotropy and specific autonomy subfactors showed differential associations with self-worth impact ratings. Recommendations for future research, psychological assessment, and treatment of depressive responses to negative life events in sociotropic and autonomous individuals are discussed. Keywords: sociotropy; autonomy; dysphoria; life events Beck's (1983; Clark, Beck, & Alford, 1999) and Blatt's (Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976; Blatt & Zuroff, 1992; Zuroff, Mongrain, & Santor, 2004) diathesis-stress congruency models of depression predict that an individual's personality orientation and negative life experiences interact to determine depressive vulnerability. Sociotropy-dependency refers to the degree to which an individual is concerned with how he or she is perceived by others, is dependent upon others for psychological support and well-being, and is motivated to obtain others' acceptance and approval. In contrast, autonomy encompasses the extent to which an individual is motivated by an arduous set of personalized criteria for measuring level of achievement, and is intolerant of frustration or interference in the pursuit of personal goals. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the perfectionistic and self-critical, need for control, and socially defensive components of the autonomy personality construct may be distinctive enough to warrant their consideration as unique dimensions of personality-vulnerability (e.g., Frewen & Dozois, in press). Congruency theory holds that sociotropic individuals are at increased risk for depression, relative to nonsociotropic individuals, following the experience of negative social events such as loss or rejection. In contrast, autonomous individuals are predicted to be more vulnerable to depression, relative to individuals with a less autonomous orientation, following the experience of failure. However, as long as sociotropic and autonomous individuals perceive that their personality-relevant needs are met, they should not readily succumb to depression. In this sense, congruency theory is consistent with Kuiper's self-worth contingency model of depression (Kuiper & Olinger, 1986a, 1986b; Kuiper, Olinger, & MacDonald, 1988; Olinger, Kuiper, & Shaw, 1987). Kuiper and his colleagues articulated a cognitive vulnerability model of depression in which an individual implicitly evaluates his or her self-worth in an overtly contractual fashion (if-then contingencies; e.g., "Only if others admire me, then I am a good person"). Applying this theory to personality vulnerability, sociotropic individuals should be fairly content with their lives to the extent that they receive friendship and affection. Given that their self-worth is conditional, however, sociotropic individuals would be vulnerable to feelings of worthlessness and depressive affect in the context of rejection from others. Individuals with a high tendency toward autonomous perfectionism and self-criticism would likewise only be vulnerable to depression when they experience failure, and not when they perceive themselves as adequately achieving their personal goals. Research has supported the relationship between sociotropy and autonomy and the experience of depression (Neitzel & Harris, 1990), although several studies have failed to confirm the specific predictions of the congruency hypothesis that personality dimensions should interact only with matching negative events in the prediction of depressive symptoms (Coyne & Whiffen, 1995). …