UF Researcher: Depressed People Upbeat About Friends And Loved Ones

March 4, 1997

GAINESVILLE — Far from being negative about everything and everyone, depressed people actually are optimistic and positive when it comes to their friends and loved ones, a new University of Florida study finds.

The inclination to be upbeat about close others’ could be depressives’ way of transferring joy from others because they may be unhappy with themselves, said Barry Schlenker, a UF psychology professor who did the study.

“Depressives tend to be pessimistic about their own behavior, taking the blame for their failures and crediting others for their successes,” Schlenker said. “But this new research shows they view close others’ optimistically. When something good happens to a best friend, they give him or her all the credit in the world.”

For his research, Schlenker surveyed 281 UF students enrolled in introductory psychology courses. The participants were classified as depressive or nondepressive based on their scores on a standardized measurement called the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. They were asked to imagine themselves or other people in a series of hypothetical situations, such as performing poorly on a test or being complimented on their appearance, and then to give one reason why they think it happened.

Schlenker was curious about how depressives view close others’ because other research indicates that people who are married or have dated for a long time tend to view their partner as an extension of themselves. If depressives are pessimistic about themselves, they also may be pessimistic about those close to them.

But he found that depressives view best friends and romantic partners more favorably than they do themselves or strangers. When explaining events that happened to themselves, depressives were more pessimistic than nondepressives. However, when explaining events that happened to their best friends and romantic partners, depressives were as positive and optimistic as nondepressives.

These results suggest that depressives focus their pessimism primarily on themselves, Schlenker said.

Because of their personal pessimism, depressed people may feel more dependent on those who are close to them, he said.

“Some clinicians have suggested that depressed people give up power to those close to them in relationships and want others to lead because they are pessimistic about their own ability to handle things,” he said.

In contrast, nondepressed people generally don’t explain their failures in ways that threaten their self-worth, Schlenker said. They blame an inability to do well on a test, for example, on a lack of sleep or preparation, and not on a lack of talent or skill.

People who are not depressed are more likely to take credit for their successes and blame circumstances outside their control for failures, Schlenker said.

“People with high self-esteem tend to make self-glorifying claims when describing their accomplishments,” he said.

Because they generally have low self-esteem, depressives have a protective personal style, Schlenker said. “They tend to be more interested in avoiding losses than acquiring rewards,” he said. “In contrast, people with high self-esteem want to get all the goodies they can amass.”

Rather than take the risk of putting themselves on the line, people with low self-esteem are more inclined to make claims indirectly, Schlenker said. They may brag about the group to which they belong rather than say positive things about themselves directly, he said.

“Depressed people may indirectly salvage some feeling of worth by basking in the reflective glory of those who are close to them,” he said. “Perhaps that is one reason depressives view best friends and romantic partners so positively compared to themselves.”