Parental care and personality in melancholic and nonmelancholic depression

The authors hypothesized that low parental care is linked to nonmelancholic depression through depressive personality traits and personality dysfunction. This hypothesis was tested using path analysis with data provided from a sample of patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for major depression and distinguished on the basis of melancholic symptoms. The results supported their hypothesis. Lack of parental care was associated with self-critical traits, and higher levels of these traits were associated with personality dysfunction, which in turn was associated with nonmelancholic, but not melancholic, depression. Dependent traits were uniquely associated with the onset of an anxiety disorder before the first episode of depression. Researchers interested in the link between personality and depression are encouraged to focus their efforts on patients whose depressive episodes do not meet DSM-IV criteria for melancholia, and on the personality dimension of self-criticism rather than dependency.