The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

512 Chapter 13

on unmitigated communion are afraid to as-

sert their own needs, inhibit self-expression

to avoid conflict, and don’t take care of

themselves when they are ill—all indicators

of self-neglect. Second, people characterized

by unmitigated communion become overly

involved in others’ problems and take on

others’ problems as their own. Unmitigated

communion has been linked to reporting

more interpersonal stressors (Helgeson &

Fritz, 1996) and more stressful events that

occurred to others (Fritz & Helgeson, 1998).

There are several reasons for the connection

of unmitigated communion to interpersonal

stressors. First, unmitigated communion

may be associated with exposure to more

interpersonal stressors because such indi-

viduals seek out others to help. Second, the

person who scores high on unmitigated com-

munion may be more likely than other peo-

ple to interpret another person’s problem as

his or her own. For example, two people may

both be exposed to a neighbor going through

a divorce, but only the unmitigated commu-

nion person defines this stressful event as

her or his own personal stressor. Third, the

intrusive behavior of the unmitigated com-

munion person may lead to relationship dif-

ficulties, meaning that the personality creates

the interpersonal stressors.

For example, in a study of adolescents with

diabetes, unmitigated communion was more

strongly related to depression than respon-

dent’s sex, and no sex differences in depres-

sion were noted once levels of unmitigated

communion were considered (Helgeson &

Fritz, 1996).

People who score high on unmitigated

communion rely on others for self-esteem

and internalize others’ views of themselves.

This makes the self-esteem of the unmitigated

communion individual quite unstable and

vulnerable. This external focus is critical to the

link of unmitigated communion to depres-

sion (Dear & Roberts, 2002; Fritz & Helgeson,

1998). Consistent with this line of thinking,

other research has shown that women are

more likely to have “interpersonal contingent

self-esteem,” which means that they base their

self-esteem on the quality of their relation-

ships (Cambron, Acitelli, & Pettit, 2008). This

instability appears to be a risk factor for de-

pression in females but not males.

As shown in Figure 13.9, there are two

explanations for the link of unmitigated

communion to depression: self-neglect and

overinvolvement in others’ problems—both

of which may stem from low self-esteem

and an externalized self-perception (Fritz &

Helgeson, 1998). Individuals who score high

Over-involvement

in Others’ Problems

Self-Neglect

Self-Esteem

Problems Depression

Unmitigated

Communion

FIGURE 13.9 Model of the relation between unmitigated communion

and depression.

Source: Adapted from Fritz and Helgeson (1998).

M13_HELG0185_04_SE_C13.indd 512 6/21/11 12:55 PM