Excessive reassurance-seeking predicts depressive but not anxious reactions to acute stress

The authors hypothesized that excessive reassurance-seeking would prospectively predict changes in depressive symptoms, even controlling for changes in anxious symptoms, and would not predict changes in anxious symptoms controlling for changes in depressive symptoms. This prediction was supported in a study of 1,005 air force cadets. Participants completed measures of excessive reassurance-seeking and depressive and anxious symptoms before basic training, and completed symptom measures again following basic training. This study, together with others, demonstrates that excessive reassurance-seeking is an important depression-related variable that deserves serious attention as a potential vulnerability factor.