Relationship patterns associated with dimensions of vulnerability to psychopathology

Associations between vulnerability to psychopathology and atypical ways of perceiving and conducting relationships were investigated in a study of 350 undergraduates. Self-report measures of traits associated with vulnerability to depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis were used to predict atypical relationships with family members, close friends, student peers, and authority figures. Tendencies to implement four basic relational models in personal relationships of each type were examined. Depression-proneness was associated with tendencies to apprehend family and close friend relationships in unusually close and asymmetrical ways. Vulnerability to bipolar disorder was manifest in relationships with authority figures, which vulnerable individuals conducted in an unusually communal and egalitarian manner. Psychosis-proneness was associated with two distinct patterns. Socially anhedonic individuals were less apt than others to view family and close friend relationships as warm and balanced, and viewed relations with friends in a hierarchical fashion. This perception of asymmetry in friend and also family relationships was also apparent among individuals with more "Positive" schizotypal features. Atypical relational patterns appear to be associated with vulnerability for major mental disorders.