The Relationship of Sociotropy and Autonomy to Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety

Beck (1983) hypothesized that excessive interpersonal (sociotropy) and achievement (autonomy) concerns represent vulnerabilities to depression when congruent negative life events occur and that these personality constructs relate differentially to specific Recent research suggests that sociotropy relates to both depression and anxiety symptoms while autonomy may be specifically related to depression This study employed a longitudinal, prospective design with a sample of 78 undergraduates to test aspects of Beck's (1983) hypotheses. Sociotropy correlated with anxiety symptoms while autonomy correlated with depression Additionally, sociotropy moderated the relationship of life stress to depression symptoms for both negative interpersonal and achievement stress while autonomy moderated the relationship of life stress to depression symptoms for negative interpersonal events only. Finally, sociotropy and autonomy also moderated the relationship between life stress and anxiety symptoms in a pattern that was different from the pattern with depression Findings from the present study add to a growing body of empirical evidence that sociotropy and autonomy relate to depression and introduce evidence indicating how these constructs may relate to anxiety. Beck's (1983) cognitive-behavioral theory of depression describes personality dimensions characterized by excessive interpersonal concerns (sociotropy) or achievement concerns (autonomy) that predispose an individual to depression. Most of the research findings from Beck's (1983) theory have been organized around two main hypotheses: the specificity and the event congruency hypothesis. Symptom Specificity Hypothesis Beck's (1983) symptom specificity hypothesis describes specific profiles hypothesized to be characteristic of and syndromes. The features of the syndrome include sadness, loneliness, depressive symptoms (p. 274), being more likely to cry (than an individual), and labile mood. In contrast, the syndrome includes the features of: depressed mood that is unremitting and independent of good or bad events, unlikely to cry, refractory anhedonia [p. 275], avoiding others to maintain autonomy, and often rejecting the help of others. Several studies have tested this with varying degrees of success. Robins, Hayes, Beck, and Kramer (1995), using a sample of dysphoric college students, provided strong support of the specificity for both sociotropy and autonomy. In a study of clinically depressed patients, Robins, Block, and Peselow (1989) found support for the depression but not the depression Recent research also suggests that sociotropy is meaningfully related to symptoms of anxiety as well as depression. In a mixed sample of clinically depressed or clinically anxious outpatients, Persons, Burns, Perloff, and Miranda (1993) found limited support for the relationship between maladaptive achievement beliefs and the hypothesized autonomous symptoms, and between dependency beliefs, the hypothesized sociotropic depression symptoms. However, the strongest relationship reported by these authors was between dependency beliefs and anxiety symptoms-particularly somatic anxiety In another study using an undergraduate sample, sociotropy (controlling for autonomy) predicted both current dysphoria and current anxiety. Autonomy (controlling for sociotropy) predicted current depression symptoms but was unrelated to current anxiety symptoms (Clark & Beck, 1991). Event Congruency Hypothesis Beck's (1983) event congruency is the diathesis-stress component of his theory. Individuals high in sociotropy are considered to be at greater risk for developing symptoms when faced with interpersonal stressors while individuals high in autonomy are at greater risk for depression when negative achievement events occur. …