Sociotropy/autonomy, self-construal, response style, and gender in adolescents

Little research has examined the relationship between response style and other personality dimensions that have been connected to depression in the literature. We examined the relationships among response style, self-construal, sociotropy/autonomy, and gender in 121 adolescents. Regardless of gender, rumination was positively related to sociotropy and autonomy whereas distraction was positively related to independence and interdependence. These relationships may hold clues for the distinction between sociotropy/autonomy and self-construal. Relationships were also found between sociotropy and interdependence. Males exhibited additional positive relationships between distraction and sociotropy, autonomy and rumination; and between sociotropy and autonomy. Gender appears to be an important component in the determination of relationships among personality and cognitive variables.