Fatigue : the predictors relevant to depression /
This study investigated the connection between lifestyle/personality variables, fatigue, and depressive symptomatology. Four hundred and twenty-six subjects ranging in depressive symptomatology from none to severe, completed a lengthy questionnaire involving measures of depression, mental and physi...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1995.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=742536061&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | This study investigated the connection between lifestyle/personality variables, fatigue, and depressive symptomatology. Four hundred and twenty-six subjects ranging in depressive symptomatology from none to severe, completed a lengthy questionnaire involving measures of depression, mental and physical exhaustion, and lifestyle/personality variables (i.e., sleep, alcohol use, anxiety). Fatigue and depression were found to correlate significantly with each other, replicating previous findings. However, physical exhaustion accounted for 25% of the variance in the BDI for this study compared to 71% that was accounted for in a previous study (Duncan, 1993). This inconsistency is discussed. Sleep, anxiety, microstress, macrostress, exercise, and caffeine use were also shown to be significant covariates with fatigue and depression. It was hypothesized that fatigue would mediate the relationship between depression and the lifestyle/ personality variables. Through hierarchical regression it was seen that the lifestyle/personality variables and the fatigue components both added significantly in explaining variance of depression, despite which was entered first. This data does not suggest fatigue as the mediating role between the lifestyle/personality variables and depression. The relationship of anxiety to depression was hypothesized to be moderated by fatigue. An interactive component was found between fatigue and anxiety. However, including the interactive component and other interactions anticipated among the lifestyle/personality variables in the overall regression model did not add significantly to the variance accounted for in depression. Since anxiety was shown to account for a large portion of the BDI assumed to be general distress and was highly related to the other variables, the relation between fatigue and anxiety in depression is discussed. Overall the study suggests that fatigue does not explain the relationship between depression and lifestyle/personality variables. Such a relationship may not exist, may only be present with other variables (i.e., role conflict), may be more intricate, involving multiple variable interactions (i.e., anxiety, stressors, internal resources), or may be obvious only when assessed by better measures (i.e., multidimensional measure of fatigue). |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 109 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |