Vulnerable Personality in Depression: Investigating Commonality in the Search for Unification

Abstract

The present paper examines three models of personality and behavior - the dispositional approach, represented by the CEP questionnaire (Pinillos), the adjustment approach (represented by the Bell questionnaire) and the behavioral approach (represented by the PES scale of MacPhyllamy and Lewinsohn) - with respect to the prediction of depression. The specific results show that variables from the first two are good predictors of depression and that the PES scale from the behavioral approach is a weaker predictor. Second, the position is taken that there are unrecognized relationships among different psychological tests and the present study investigates such relationships among the three scales as they are used in the prediction of depression. The relationships found are analyzed in a unifying theory that calls for additional studies of the interrelationships of tests in prediction for the purpose of organizing the field's excessive diversity in tests and theories and of elaborating the theory.