Daily hassles, major and minor life events, and their interaction with sociotropy and autonomy

A cross-sectional study investigated whether Beckʹs (1983; 1987) (Treatment of depression: Old controversies and new approaches. New York: Raven Press; Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1, 2–27) cognitive-personality traits of sociotropy and autonomy had a specific interaction with daily minor life events (hassles) or major life experiences within the interpersonal and autonomous domains. Ninety-four undergraduates were administered the revised Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (SAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Negative Experiences Inventory—Student Version (NEI), List of Threatening Events and the Hassles and Uplifts Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis, with the BDI as the dependent variable, revealed a specific congruent interaction between Solitude, one of the two dimensions of autonomy, and NEI negative autonomous events. Sociotropy and the other dimension of autonomy, Independence, did not interact significantly with any of the life event scales. The findings suggest that more severe life events rather than daily hassles or strains may be more relevant when investigating cognitive diathesis-stress interactions in dysphoria.