THE SPECIFICITY OF SOCIOTROPY-AUTONOMY PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS TO DEPRESSION VS ANXIETY

Previous cognitive vulnerability studies have identified sociotropy/de pendency as a personality characteristic related to depression. We eva luated sociotropy in differential prediction of depression vs. anxiety . Participants (70 females, 42 males) were tested on the Beck Depressi on Inventory (BDI) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) at two points in time (T1 and T2), separated by an interval of 4 weeks. The Sociotro py-Autonomy Scale (SAS) was administered at T1. Sociotropy was related moderately to the BDI at T1 and T2, but also to the BAI. Autonomy was related to neither. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found s ociotropy to predict anxiety at T2, but not depression. The issue of c ognitive vulnerability marker specificity is discussed.