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Romantic relationship breakup: An experimental model to study effects of stress on depression (-like) symptoms

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  • Anne M Verhallen
  • Remco J Renken
  • Jan-Bernard C Marsman
  • Gert J ter Horst

Abstract

The occurrence of a stressful event is considered to increase the risk of developing depression. In the present study we explore whether the breakup of a romantic relationship can be used as an experimental model to study a depression-like state during a period of stress in individuals without a psychiatric disorder. The primary aim of our study was to investigate: 1) whether individuals with a recent romantic relationship breakup (‘‘heartbreak”) demonstrate symptoms of depression, 2) how to describe heartbreak characteristics based on data from a comprehensive questionnaire battery, and 3) whether this description can capture severity of depression symptoms. Secondary, we were interested in gender differences with regard to the above study objectives. Subjects who have experienced a relationship breakup in the preceding six months (N = 71) or are in a romantic relationship (N = 46) participated in our study. A questionnaire battery was administered to acquire information related to depression, mood, the breakup and (former) relationship. Principal Component Analysis with Procrustes bootstrapping was performed to extract components from the questionnaire data. Even though our sample of individuals who recently have experienced a relationship breakup can be on average considered non-depressed, group-level depression scores were elevated compared to individuals in a relationship (p = .001) and 26.8% reported symptoms corresponding to mild, moderate or severe depression. We described heartbreak by two principal components interpreted as ‘‘sudden loss” and ‘‘lack of positive affect”, respectively. Highly significant correlations between the component scores and depression scores were found (p

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  • Anne M Verhallen & Remco J Renken & Jan-Bernard C Marsman & Gert J ter Horst, 2019. "Romantic relationship breakup: An experimental model to study effects of stress on depression (-like) symptoms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0217320
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217320
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    1. Henry Kaiser, 1958. "The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 23(3), pages 187-200, September.
    2. John Horn, 1965. "A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 30(2), pages 179-185, June.
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    1. Mateusz Kowalczyk & Michał Seweryn Karbownik & Edward Kowalczyk & Monika Sienkiewicz & Monika Talarowska, 2021. "Mental Health of PhD Students at Polish Universities—Before the COVID-19 Outbreak," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-9, November.

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