Interpersonal Personality Vulnerabilities, Stress, and Depression in Adolescents: Interpersonal Hassles as a Mediator of Sociotropy and Socially Prescribed Perfectionism

Abstract

Objectives: Research linking interpersonal personality factors with depression illustrates the need for adolescents to develop interpersonal resilience. In the current study, we examined the extent to which two interpersonally-based vulnerability factors (i.e., sociotropy and socially prescribed perfectionism) and daily interpersonal hassles are associated with depression in adolescents. Methods: A sample of 143 high school adolescents from Toronto, Ontario, Canada completed self-report questionnaires that included measures of sociotropy (i.e., the Personal Styles Inventory), perfectionism (i.e., the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale), daily life hassles, and depressive symptoms. Results: Sociotropy and socially prescribed perfectionism were associated significantly with depression and daily hassles, including hassles reflecting interpersonal themes such as social mistreatment and social disconnection. A factor consisting of interpersonal hassles subscales mediated the link between these personality traits and depression. Conclusion and Implications: Our results highlight the roles of sociotropy and socially prescribed perfectionism and suggest that these traits are associated with depression, in part, due to their link with daily interpersonal stressors. Our results suggest that while many adolescents are resilient, others who need to be accepted and who feel that they must live up to external pressures to be perfect would benefit from stress counseling and preventive interventions that would boost their emotional and interpersonal resilience.