Hostility in depression

Subjects (39 men and 30 women) from two university counseling centers and one university medical center were administered the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, the State-Trait Anger Scale, and the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire. Results showed significant positive correlations between self-reported severity of depression and all subtypes of hostility including behavior, attitude, affect, intropunitiveness, and extrapunitiveness. Hierarchical regression analysis using demographic and hostility variables as predictors of depression scores showed increasing age, lower education, and female gender to account for 50% of the explained variance. The Intropunitive subscale from the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire accounted for an additional 19% of the explained variance and was the single most powerful predictor of depression. Correlational analysis showed women tending to have higher scores on most hostility measures. Implications of these results with respect to theory and clinical practice are discussed.