INTERPERSONAL DEPENDENCY AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS - A METAANALYTIC REVIEWOF RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES

Meta-analysis of research on the dependency-illness relationship indic ated that high levels of interpersonal dependency are associated with elevated rates of illness in retrospective studies (r = .31) and with increased risk for illness in prospective studies (r = .27). These eff ect sizes are larger than those obtained in most investigations of the personality-illness link involving other trait variables. The relatio nships of participant characteristics, illness category, dependency me asure used, and illness index to observed dependency-illness effect si zes were also examined. Implications of these findings for theoretical models of the dependency-illness relationship are discussed, and poss ible mediating variables are considered. (C) 1998 Academic Press.