Graduation Year

Spring 2014

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Judith LeMaster

Reader 2

Sheila Walker

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2014 Emily H. Simmons

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between a history of adolescent depression and social skills in young adulthood. Participants between the ages of 22 and 30 reported past and present experiences with depression and completed assessments of three aspects of social skills: emotional understanding, strength of social relationships, and interpersonal competence. Results indicated an association between current depression and social skills deficits but no main effect of adolescent depression on overall social skills. However, greater emotional understanding was associated with a history of adolescent depression. An earlier age of onset predicted stronger social relationships while length of depressive episode and time since episode showed no significant relationships with social skills. Male participants showed significantly weaker social skills than female participants overall and within depressed participants. Together, these findings suggest that past depression plays a limited role in social skills after recovery and point towards further research on the specific role of emotional understanding during and after depression.

Download

Share

COinS