Negative feedback‐seeking in depression: The moderating roles of rumination and interpersonal life stress

Abstract

AbstractObjectivesSwann's self‐verification theory proposes that negative feedback seeking (NFS)—the solicitation of negative feedback from others that confirms one's self‐views—works in a negative cycle to maintain and exacerbate depression in the face of interpersonal stress. We propose a cognitive‐interpersonal integration account of NFS such that this maladaptive behavior prospectively predicts depression only among those with a trait tendency to ruminate on the causes and consequences of depressed mood and stress.MethodParticipants included 91 young adults who were over‐sampled for a lifetime history of a unipolar depressive disorder (age 17–33; 69% women; 67% lifetime depressive disorder). At baseline, participants completed a structured diagnostic interview and self‐report measures of NFS, rumination, and depression symptoms. In addition, participants engaged in an interpersonal rejection task (the Yale Interpersonal Stressor) followed by a behavioral measure of NFS. At a 3‐month follow‐up, depression symptoms were again assessed by self‐report and exposure to stressful interpersonal life events in the intervening period were assessed with a rigorous contextual interview and independent rating system.ResultsControlling for baseline depression severity, greater self‐reported, and behaviorally assessed NFS predicted greater follow‐up depression severity, but only among those with higher trait tendency to ruminate. For self‐reported NFS, this association was further moderated by level of interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal, life events experienced over follow‐up.ConclusionThese findings suggest that rumination may represent a modifiable intervention target that could break the vicious interpersonal cycle of depression and, thus, mitigate the depressogenic effects of NFS.