When individuals take a personality test, they have an opportunity to gain insight into the different traits that make them who they are. The results of one of these assessments may also be able to identify risk factors for depression, which can be "contagious," according to the findings of a recent study.
Psychological scientists from the University of Notre Dame conducted a study featuring data from 103 college roommates. In the study, which appears in the Association for Psychological Science journal "Clinical Psychological Science," the researchers learned that one person's negative way of perceiving stressful life events could rub off on others.
This is a problem, as this "cognitive vulnerability" can lead to the development of depression in these individuals. Study participants who displayed cognitive vulnerability during their first three months of college had developed almost twice as many depressive symptoms as those who did not six months later.
As depression can be such a crippling disorder, it is in people's best interest to do what they can to ward off depressive symptoms – especially individuals between the ages of 45 and 64, who, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are most likely to develop the mood disorder.
No comments yet.