Attachment Beliefs and Interpersonal Contexts Associated with Dependency and Self-Criticism

Abstract

Vulnerability to depression is linked to two specific personality traits: dependency or sociotropy, which refers to excessive needs tor love and approval, and self-criticism or perfectionism. Recently, Rude and Burnham (1 995) demonstrated that the questionnaires used to measure dependency tend to confuse healthy attachment needs with the extreme and generalized need to obtain others' approval (“neediness”) The first goal of the present study was to extend their findings by assessing the relations between neediness and such theoretical correlates as attachment beliefs and depressive symptoms. The second goal was to explore the interpersonal contexts associated with neediness and self-criticism in a sample of couples. We hypothesized that targets' neediness and self-criticism would be associated with their partners' ratings of attachment insecurity and marital dissatisfaction. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that high levels of neediness and self-criticism render individuals vulnerable to depressive symptoms when their marriages are unhappy.