Daily stress and coping correlates of sociotropy and autonomy: evaluation of the construct validity of the Personal Style Inventory

Abstract

Stress and coping variables were measured nightly for 10 consecutive nights. In a test of the construct validity of the Personal Style Inventory (PSI), we evaluated the moderating effects of sociotropy and autonomy on individuals' affective and self-esteem reactivity to daily negative events. Sociotropy was associated with stronger affective and self-esteem reactivity to daily stressors in the expected direction, such that individuals high in sociotropy evidenced greater increases in sadness and decreases in self-esteem in response to an increase in daily stressors. However, this pattern was not unique to interpersonal stressors, but was found for achievement-related stressors as well. The results for autonomy were inconsistent and not in the hypothesized direction when significant. Our results are consistent with previous research, suggesting that PSI sociotropy functions as a general, but not specific, depression vulnerability factor, whereas PSI autonomy is not a valid scale. More generally, our results suggest the heuristic value of a daily diary design when evaluating the construct validity of measures of depression vulnerability.