ASSESSMENT OF INTERPERSONAL DEPENDENCY USING THE MILLON CLINICAL MULTIAXIAL INVENTORY-II (MCMI-II) AND THE DEPRESSIVE EXPERIENCES QUESTIONNAIRE

Interpersonal dependency plays an important role in many forms of phys ical and psychological problems. Identifying the correlates of interpe rsonal dependency may aid the understanding of dependency and its emot ional and social consequences. The present study examined the reliabil ity and validity of the dependency scales from the Millon Clinical Mul tiaxial Inventory-11 and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire. Sev enty-five college students were assessed on four separate occasions us ing a variety of measures. Internal consistency and 10-week retest rel iability estimates were moderately high for both dependency scales. Ad ditionally, scores from the two dependency scales were closely related to each other. Finally, both dependency scales were found to be corre lated with measures of low self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation, p roblems asserting oneself, and shyness. Multiple regression analyses s uggested that a fear of negative evaluation was strongly related to de pendency as measured by both scales. Results suggest interpersonal dep endency is more closely related to anxiety than depression. However, d ependency and depression may be related indirectly, with social functi oning serving as a mediating variable. Thus, individuals with high lev els of dependency may be at risk for depression when problems arise in their social functioning.