Psychosocial antecedents of depressive symptoms: an evaluation using daily experiences methodology.

College students provided ratings regarding the intensity of depressive symptoms every day for 45 consecutive days. Participants also made daily ratings of the degree to which they experienced 3 psychosocial processes that have been theoretically linked to depression: dependency, negative cognitions, and interpersonal stress. Concomitant time-series analyses revealed significant temporal covariation of each psychosocial variable, with depressive symptoms for virtually all participants. Across-time analyses also revealed that elevations in interpersonal stress and feelings of dependency preceded, by 1 day, the onset of periods of intense depression, and that elevations in all 3 psychosocial variables were apparent 1 to 2 days after such episodes had ended. The findings suggest that a "daily experiences methodology" may be useful in identifying short-term antecedents and residuals of symptomatic states.