Linville P W
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987 Apr;52(4):663-76. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.52.4.663.
This prospective study tested the self-complexity buffering hypothesis that greater self-complexity moderates the adverse impact of stress on depression and illness. This hypothesis follows from a model that assumes self-knowledge is represented in terms of multiple self-aspects. As defined in this model, greater self-complexity involves representing the self in terms of a greater number of cognitive self-aspects and maintaining greater distinctions among self-aspects. Subjects completed measures of stressful events, self-complexity, depression, and illness in two sessions separated by 2 weeks. A multiple regression analysis used depression and illness at Time 2 as outcomes, stressful life events and self-complexity at Time 1 as predictors, and depression and illness at Time 1 as control variables. The Stress X Self-Complexity interaction provided strong support for the buffering hypothesis. Subjects higher in self-complexity were less prone to depression, perceived stress, physical symptoms, and occurrence of the flu and other illnesses following high levels of stressful events. These results suggest that vulnerability to stress-related depression and illness is due, in part, to differences in cognitive representations of the self.
这项前瞻性研究检验了自我复杂性缓冲假说，即更高的自我复杂性可减轻压力对抑郁和疾病的不利影响。该假说源于一个假设自我认知以多个自我方面来表征的模型。按照此模型的定义，更高的自我复杂性涉及以更多的认知自我方面来表征自我，并在自我方面之间保持更大的差异。受试者在相隔两周的两个阶段完成了压力事件、自我复杂性、抑郁和疾病的测量。多元回归分析将第二阶段的抑郁和疾病作为结果，将第一阶段的应激性生活事件和自我复杂性作为预测因素，并将第一阶段的抑郁和疾病作为控制变量。压力×自我复杂性的交互作用为缓冲假说提供了有力支持。自我复杂性较高的受试者在经历高水平的压力事件后，较不易患抑郁症、感知到压力、出现身体症状以及感染流感和其他疾病。这些结果表明，易受与压力相关的抑郁和疾病影响，部分原因在于自我的认知表征存在差异。
