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Published on: February 22, 2018
People with external preoccupation are vulnerable to depression: a longitudinal study
1Department of Human Relations, Otsuma Women's University, Tama, Tokyo, Japan. JCB00146@nifty.ne.jp
Abstract:
External preoccupation, the tendency to maintain an external focus of attention on a specific object, is believed to be a vulnerability factor for depression. The present study is an investigation of this hypothesis in a longitudinal design. At Time 1, external preoccupation as well as depressive symptoms were assessed. At Time 2, 4 months later, life events experienced between Time 1 and Time 2 and depressive symptoms at Time 2 were assessed. Data from 195 undergraduates (147 men and 48 women) were analyzed. The results supported the hypothesis. Specifically, when reporting a greater number of negative life events, those who scored high on external preoccupation became more depressed than those who scored low on that tendency. When there was a smaller number of negative events, this difference disappeared.
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