ABSTRACT
That there is a relation between exposure to negative events and depression is well established. It is also well established, however, that the simple stressordepression relation is a modest one, leaving considerable variance unaccounted for, even when all variables are carefully assessed. The quest for a more powerful predictive model has mostly involved consideration of personal or contextual variables that might increase the individual’s vulnerability to any and all stressors. For instance, it has been suggested that lacking a hardy personality and/or social support renders one relatively vulnerable to stressors (cf. Blaney & Ganellen, 1990). Such models are sometimes described as interactional, denoting only that there is a statistical interaction between the purported vulnerability factor and stressor level.
