Construal Level Moderates the Relationship between Temperamental Reactivity and Depressive Symptoms

Deficits in self-control are central to many current theories of psychopathology (e.g. Lonigan, Vasey, Phillips, & Hazen, 2004). Adopting a high-level construal demonstrably leads to higher levels of self control than does adapting a lower level of construal (Fujita, Trope, Liberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006) where "High-level construal consist of general, decontextualized features of an event that convey the essence of information...whereas lower level construal include more concrete, contextualized and incidental features" (Trope & Liberman, 2003). We thus hypothesized that that lower levels of construal should be associated with higher symptoms of emotional disorders. Furthermore, the vulnerability for emotional disorder symptoms associated with temperamental emotional reactivity should be moderated by the construal level adopted by individuals. However, other research traditions maintain that higher construal levels increase the risk for depression (Watkins, Moberly & Moulds, 2008) because they increase state emotional reactivity. This study tested these contradictory hypotheses. 125 undergraduate students completed the Short Form of the Adult Temperament Questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales, the Beck Depression Inventory and The Behavior Identification Form (which taps construal level). A multiple regression yielded that the Negative Reactivity x Construal Level interaction was significant at the p=.05 level to predict depressive symptoms. However, construal level did not moderate the association between Negative Reactivity and Stress and did not moderate the association between Negative Reactivity and Anxiety. Further, construal level did not moderate the association between Positive Reactivity and any of the emotional symptoms. These findings are more consistent with Fujita et al. (2004) than with Watkins et al. (2008). We propose ways to reconcile the current findings with both previous research traditions. Finally, we suggest that efforts to raise a person's construal level in therapy may offer a potential avenue to preventing the development of emotional disorders.No embarg