Variability in lay perceptions of depression: A vignette study

Authors: Heim, Derek1; Smallwood, Jonathan2; Davies, John B.1

Source: Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Volume 78, Number 3, September 2005 , pp. 315-325(11)

Publisher: British Psychological Society

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Abstract:

This paper describes a study investigating lay perceptions of depression in terms of perceived severity. Students (N=128) were presented with vignettes describing individuals with symptoms of depression based on DSM-IV. The descriptions were varied in terms of gender, social status, and a self-referent manner of communicating depressive symptomatology. Participants were asked to rate the degree to which vignette characters were thought to be depressed on a Likert-type scale. Results indicate that a non-self-referent style of communicating depressive symptoms by female vignette characters was seen as an indication of elevated levels of depression, and these findings are discussed with reference to the literature.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1348/147608305X25793

Affiliations: 1: Centre for Applied Social Psychology, University of Strathclyde, UK 2: Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

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