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Measures of depressive dimensions: are they interchangeable?
1Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124.
Journal of Personality Assessment
|June 1, 1991
Summary
This study examined relationships between depression vulnerability measures. The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), Sociotropy-Autonomy Scales (SAS), and Dysfunctional Attitude Scales (DAS) showed validities, but SAS-Autonomy measured counter-dependency, not self-criticism.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychopathology
Background:
- Depression vulnerability is theorized to stem from dependency/rejection and self-criticism/failure.
- Three key instruments measure these constructs: DEQ, SAS, and DAS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interrelationships among the dependent/anaclitic and self-critical/introjective scales of the DEQ, SAS, and DAS.
- To assess the convergent and discriminant validity of these measures in a large undergraduate sample.
Main Methods:
- Administered the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), Sociotropy-Autonomy Scales (SAS), and Dysfunctional Attitude Scales (DAS) to a large undergraduate sample.
- Analyzed the convergent and discriminant validity of the dependent/anaclitic and self-critical/introjective scales within and across the instruments.
Main Results:
- DEQ-Dependent, SAS-Sociotrophy, and DAS-Anaclitic scales demonstrated strong convergent and discriminant validity.
- DEQ-Self-Critical and DAS-Introjective scales also showed good validity.
- SAS-Autonomy scale was not strongly related to self-critical/introjective measures, instead indicating counter-dependency.
Conclusions:
- The findings support the distinctiveness of dependency-related constructs measured by DEQ-Dependent, SAS-Sociotrophy, and DAS-Anaclitic.
- The SAS-Autonomy scale may not accurately capture self-critical or introjective features, potentially measuring counter-dependency instead.