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Depression and Rejection

On Strangers and Friends, Symptom Specificity, Length of Relationship, and Gender

Important methodological issues continue to cloud interpretation of results on depression and the response of others. Four such issues–strangers versus acquaintances as respondents, symptom specificity, length of relationship, and gender of target subjects and respondents–were empirically addressed in the present study. Undergraduates and their same-gender roommates completed questionnaires on their views of each other, depressed and related symptoms, and length of relationship, and they were videotaped as they engaged in an observer-rated interaction. Results indicated that (a) depressed targets were rejected by their roommates, whereas anhedonic (i.e., low positive affect) subjects were rejected by observers; (b) rejection effects were relatively specific to depression and anhedonia versus other symptoms; (c) length of relationship did not moderate the target depression-roommate rejection relation; and (d) male targets were more likely than were females to elicit roommate rejection, particularly if depressed, and male judges were no more likely than were female judges to view targets negatively.

Communication Research, Vol. 23, No. 4, 451-471 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/009365096023004006


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