Rejection Sensitivity and Depression: Mediation by Stress Generation

Abstract

Objective Rejection sensitivity has been found to confer risk for depression. The process through which this occurs remains unclear. This risk factor also has been associated with negative behavioral tendencies and interpersonal difficulties. Drawing on these different lines of research, the current investigation aimed to evaluate stress generation, the tendency for depression-prone individuals to experience higher rates of life stressors that are at least in part influenced by their own behavior, as a potential mechanism mediating the link between rejection sensitivity and subsequent depressive symptoms. Method Sixty-six adults with a history of depression were followed over a four-month interval, and completed assessments of rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms at baseline, and depressive symptoms, a diagnostic interview for depression, as well as a contextual threat life stress interview at four-month follow-up. Results Consistent with the stress generation hypothesis, rejection sensitivity predicted higher rates of dependent stressors, but not independent ones, over the four-month prospective follow-up period. Furthermore, prospectively occurring dependent stressors mediated the relation between baseline rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms at follow-up. Conclusions The finding that stress generation may operate as a mediating mechanism underlying the pathway between rejection sensitivity and depression lends preliminary support for the importance of targeting maladaptive behavioral tendencies in rejection-sensitive individuals in clinical settings.

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective.

“…Similar effects have been reported in children and adults with internalizing disorders (J. L. Allen & Rapee, 2009; Farmer & Kashdan, 2015; Hoehn-Saric, McLeod, Funderburk, & Kowalski, 2004; Kendler & Karkowski-Shuman, 1997; Kendler, Karkowski, & Prescott, 1999; Liu & Alloy, 2010; Liu, Kraines, Massing-Schaffer, & Alloy, 2014). …”

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