Sex differences in stress generation: An examination of sociotropy/autonomy, stress, and depressive symptoms

Hammen (1991) proposed that both individual characteristics and depressive symplomatology may explain the stress generation process, in which individuals contribute, in part, to a more stressful environment for themselves. Nonetheless, research has not teased apart the impact of vulnerabilily factors and depressive symplomatology on this process. Ninety-nine college students, selected to be variable on personality vulnerabilities of sociotropy and autonomy, were followed far 6 weeks. Weekly depressive symptoms and stressful life events that were likely caused in part by the individual (dependent stress) were assessed. Multilevel modeling results indicated that prior-week depressive symptoms significantly predicted current week dependent interpersonal stress levels. A significant sex-by-sociotropy effect emerged such that being female and scoring high on sociotropy predicted higher levels of dependent interpersonal stress. This interpersonal stress generation effect for women partially mediated the relationship between sociotropy and depressive symptoms.