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Interpersonal Difficulties as an Underlying Mechanism in the Anxiety-Depression Association

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2013

Andres G. Viana  and
Erin N. Stevens
Andres G. Viana*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson, Missisippi, USA
Erin N. Stevens
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Andres G. Viana, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State St, Jackson, MS 39216, USA. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objectives: Interpersonal difficulties have been implicated in both anxiety and depression. However, much less is known about whether interpersonal difficulties may account for, in part, the high level of comorbidity between mood and anxiety symptoms. This study examined whether various interpersonal difficulties, assessed with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, Short Circumplex (IIP-SC), were underlying mechanisms in the relationship between anxiety and depression symptoms in a high-risk sample of late adolescents with clinical levels of anxiety. Methods: 144 late adolescents with clinical levels of anxiety (mean age = 18.63 years; SD = 0.92) reported on their trait anxiety, worry, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and interpersonal problems. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, the IIP-SC overly nurturant subscale partially accounted for the relationship between anxiety and depression. The IIP-SC non-assertive and social avoidant subscales did not significantly account for the anxiety-depression relationship. Conclusions: Findings suggest that interpersonal behaviours characterised by excessive attempts to please and accommodate others may ultimately contribute to our understanding of the anxiety-depression association. We discuss the implications of our findings and how they may be applied to evidence-based assessment and treatment of anxiety problems.

Keywords

Anxietydepressioninterpersonal behaviourcomorbiditypsychopathology
Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 273 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Academic Press Pty Ltd 2013 

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