Revisiting Depression Contagion as a Mediator of the Relation Between Depression and Rejection: A Speed-Dating Study

Interpersonal theories of depression postulate that depressed individuals' experience of social isolation is attributable, in part, to their tendency to behave in ways that elicit rejection from others. Depression contagion has been implicated as a factor that may account for the rejection of depressed individuals. The current study revisits this hypothesis using a controlled, but realistically motivated setting: speed-dating. Approximately two weeks before the speed-dating event, participants' depression levels were assessed. During the event, participants had four-minute "dates" with opposite-sex partners. After each date, they responded to items measuring their affect and romantic attraction. At the end of the evening, participants indicated which partners they wanted to see again. Our results did not support depression contagion: after four minutes of interaction with partners with high levels of depressive symptoms, participants did not experience increased negative affect; instead, they experienced reduced positive affect, which led to the rejection of these partners.