The interpersonal basis of psychiatric symptoms☆

Major Depressive Disorder is a severe and highly disabling mental illness. Almost all self-reported questionnaires have overlooked the interpersonal symptoms of depression which are important across gender and culture. The Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) developed by Cheung and Power (2012) entails comprehensive emotional, cognitive, somatic, and interpersonal subscales. It addresses the criticism that existing self-report depression scales might not cover sufficient phenomenological heterogeneity of depression. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MDAS across gender and four major ethnic groups of Caucasian, Black, Asian and Hispanic, including reliability and concurrent validity against the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) and Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). It also aimed to establish a stable factor structure across gender and ethnic groups and test the measurement invariance to enhance its potential for clinical use.

A community sample of 3499 participants from four ethnic groups were recruited via online crowdsourcing sites of Qualtrics and Amazon M Turk. Each individual completed a demographic questionnaire, the MDAS, CESD and PHQ-9.

There was good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.90) and concurrent reliability across gender and ethnic groups. Strict measurement invariance was established for MDAS over a four-factor factor structure corresponding to the four subscales.

The MDAS showed good psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a four-factor structure, suggesting its potential to be used in clinical settings across gender and ethnic groups.

Participants all answered the questionnaires in English, which could hinder cultural variations in their expression of symptoms.

Exposure to adverse psychological experiences such as social isolation profoundly affects stress cascades and brain function, thereby facilitating the onset of psychiatric disorders. As rodents live in groups, they are suitable models to investigate the effects of social isolation on brain development, brain function, and behaviors. This article highlights behavioral consequences of social isolation rearing at postnatal, adolescent, adult, and aged stages in rodents with a focus on social and anxiety-related behaviors. We evaluate and integrate findings of molecular changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and dopaminergic system as potential biological mechanisms underlying the changes in behaviors.

This study explores the interplay between men and women’s interpersonal problems, the interpersonal problems of their romantic partners, and the quality of relationships among same-sex couples. Participants and their partners (72 gay couples and 72 lesbian couples) completed assessments of their interpersonal problems and the overall quality of their romantic relationships. Using Actor-Partner Interdependence Models, it was found that participants who possessed high levels of global interpersonal problems or had romantic partners with high levels of global interpersonal problems experienced relationship discord. This was especially evident for vindictive men and women. Further, women who had romantic partners who possessed interpersonal problems related to being overly domineering were at increased risk for experiencing high levels of relationship discord.