There has emerged in recent years a new line of empirical inquiry on social cognitive factors associated with depression and vulnerability to depression. The proposed work complements and improves upon previous research in this area by focusing more extensively on the idiographic structure and content of interpersonal and self-perception, using free-response methods specifically developed for this purpose. A model well-suited to free-response data will be used for representing how social perceptions and beliefs are organized. Using these new techniques, six subject groups will be studied longitudinally over a one year period. Five of the subject groups consist of persons with various kinds of depression or vulnerability to depression (persons with major depression without diagnosable anxiety; persons with major depression and a concurrent anxiety disorder; persons with mild depression; persons recovered form major depression; non-depression persons who are cognitively vulnerable) and one is a normal control. By comparing the structure and content of social perceptions and their temporal changes in the different subject groups, we expect to contribute to the scientific understanding of patterns of perception and belief that are associated with increased risk for depression. Empirical relations of the structural measures to stressful life events and to measures of cognitive vulnerability to depression will also be studied within and across the various groups.
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