NETWORK ORIENTATION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY - DEVELOPMENT OF THE NETWORK UTILIZATION SCALE

Beliefs regarding the utilization of support (i.e., network orientatio n) have not been studied extensively. The present research was designe d with two interrelated goals in mind: 1) to develop an instrument, th e Network Utilization Scale (NUS), which was designed to assess differ ent aspects of the construct of network orientation; and 2) to assess the relationship between network orientation and depressive symptomato logy. The research was based on five independent samples of adults whi ch included student, community residing, and clinical populations. Fac tor analysis of the NUS yielded two scales: Negative Network Orientati on and Positive Network Orientation. The factor structure was replicat ed in an independent sample, the scales showed adequate internal consi stency across populations, and they correlated in predicted ways with existing instruments. The Negative Orientation scale was positively re lated to depressive symptoms across studies and the Positive Orientati on scale was negatively related to depressive symptoms across studies. The Negative Orientation scale also accounted for a significant amoun t of the variance in symptoms after controlling for existing measures of network orientation. Taken as a whole, these finding suggest that t he NUS possesses adequate levels of reliability and validity and that the construct of network orientation is a significant predictor of dep ression.