Personality and depressive symptoms: Stress generation and cognitive vulnerabilities to depression in a prospective daily diary study

Personality and psychopathology have long been associated, however the mechanisms that account for this link are less understood. Stress generation was examined as a potential mechanism to explain the association between personality traits, especially negative emotionality, and depressive symptoms. In addition, the moderating influence of cognitive vulnerabilities to potentiate the relation between stressors and depressive symptoms was investigated. These hypothesized processes were evaluated in a prospective daily diary study in which young adults (N = 210) completed baseline measures of personality, dysfunctional attitudes, negative cognitive style, and depressive symptoms. The participants then recorded their levels of depressive symptoms and the occurrence of stressors daily for 35 days. Negative Emotionality-Stress Reaction (NEM-SR) predicted initial levels and trajectories of depressive symptoms and stressors over time. Daily stressors partially mediated the longitudinal association between baseline NEM-SR and trajectories of daily depressive symptoms. Both dysfunctional attitudes and negative cognitive style interacted with these additional stressors to predict prospective fluctuations of daily depressive symptoms.