Weinberger's typological model of social-emotional adjustment was described. The model's six adjustment types were evaluated within the context of the interpersonal problems circumplex in a sample of 306 young adult college students. Diagnostic features of precise circumplex measurement were used to distinguish adjustment types. Substantive features of the interpersonal problems circumplex were used to describe differential characteristics of interpersonal dysfunction across adjustment types. Differential endorsementrates of psychological symptoms across adjustment types were also examined. The validityof the social-emotional adjustment typology was supported. Based on previous research on interpersonal problems, psychotherapy response, and attachment styles, implications for the typology regarding the development of psychopathology and psychotherapeutic interventions are discussed. We conclude that the Weinberger types represent a useful, person-centered typological model in which to integrate developmental, personality, and clinical perspectives on social-emotional adjustment.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alden, L. E.
(1989). Short-term structured treatment for avoidant personality disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 756-764.
2.
Alden, L. E.
, & Capreol, M. J. (1993). Avoidant personality disorder: Interpersonal problems as predictors of treatment response. Behavior Therapy, 24, 357-376.
3.
Alden, L. E.
, & Phillips, N. (1990). An interpersonal analysis of social anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 499-513.
4.
Alden, L. E.
, Wiggins, J. S., & Pincus, A. L. (1990). Construction of circumplex scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 521-536.
5.
Armstrong, S. L.
, Gleitman, L. R., & Gleitman, H. (1983). What some concepts might not be. Cognition, 13, 263-308.
6.
Bartholomew, K.
, & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226-244.
7.
Benjamin, L. S.
(1986). Adding social and intrapsychic descriptors to Axis I of the DSM-III. In T. Millon & G. L. Klerman (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology (pp. 599-637). New York: Guilford Press.
8.
Blashfield, R. K.
(1986). Structural approaches to classification. In T. Millon & G. L. Klerman (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology (pp. 363-380). New York: Guilford Press.
9.
Cantor, N.
, & Genero, N. (1986). Psychiatric diagnosis and natural categorization: A close analogy. In. T. Millon & G. L. Klerman (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology (pp. 233-256). New York: Guilford Press.
10.
Carson, R. C.
(1969). Interaction concepts of personality. Chicago: Aldine.
11.
Carson, R. C.
(1991). The social-interactional viewpoint. In M. Hersen, A. Kazdin, & A. Bellack (Eds.), The clinical psychology handbook (pp. 185-199). New York: Pergamon Press.
12.
Derogatis, L. R.
(1977). The SCL-90 manual: Scoring administration, and procedures for the SCL-90. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Clinical Psychometrics Unit.
13.
Derogatis, L. R.
, & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: An introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13, 596-605.
14.
Feldman, S. S.
, Wentzel, K. R., Weinberger, D. A., & Munson, J. A. (1990). Marital satisfaction of parents of preadolescent boys and its relationship to family and child finctioning. Journal of Family Psychology, 4, 213-234.
15.
Gurtman, M. B.
(1991). Evaluating the interpersonalness of personality scales. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 670-677.
16.
Gurtman, M. B.
(1992a). Trust, distrust, and interpersonal problems: A circumplex analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 989-1002.
17.
Gurtman, M.B.
(1992b). Construct validity of interpersonal personality measures: The interpersonal circumplex as a nomological net. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 105-118.
18.
Gurtman, M. B.
(1993). Constructing personality tests to meet a structural criterion: Application of the Interpersonal Circumplex. Journal of Personality, 61, 237-264.
19.
Gurtman, M. B.
(1994). The circumplex as a tool for studying normal and abnormal personality: A methodological primer. In S. Strack & M. Lorr (Eds.), Differentiating normal and abnormal personality (pp. 243-263). New York: Springer.
20.
Gurtman, M. B.
, Fernandez, S. J., & Phillips, L. A. (1991, August). Narcissism from the viewpoint of an interpersonal problem circumplex. In L. E. Alden (Chair), Assessment of interpersonal problems: Implications for treatment and research. Symposium conducted at the convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
21.
Hinde, D. A.
, & Dennis, A. (1986). Categorizing individuals: An alternative model to linear analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9, 105-119.
22.
Horowitz, L. M.
(1979). On the cognitive structure of interpersonal problems treated in psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 5-15.
23.
Horowitz, L. M.
, Rosenberg, S. E., Baer, B. A., Ureno, G., & Villasenor, V. S. (1988). Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: Psychometric properties and clinical applications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 885-892.
24.
Horowitz, L. M.
, Rosenberg, S. E., & Bartholomew, K. (1993). Interpersonal problems, attachment styles, and outcome in brief dynamic psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 549-560.
25.
Horowitz, L. M.
, Rosenberg, S. E., & Kalehzan, B. M. (1992). The capacity to describe other people clearly: A predictor of interpersonal problems and outcome in brief dynamic psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research, 2, 37-51.
26.
Horowitz, L. M.
, & Vitkus, J. (1986). The interpersonal basis of psychiatric symptoms. Clinical Psychology Review, 6, 443-469.
27.
Kiesler, D. J.
(1983). The 1982 interpersonal circle: A taxonomy for complementarity in human transactions. Psychological Review, 90, 185-214.
28.
Kiesler, D. J.
(1988). Therapeutic metacommunication. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
29.
Leary, T.
(1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of personality. New York: Ronald.
30.
Mohr, D. C.
, Beutler, L. E., Engle, D., Shoham-Solomon, V., Bergan, J., Kasniak, A. W., & Yost, E. B. (1990). Identification of patients at risk for nonresponse and negative outcome in psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 622-628.
31.
Pincus, A. L.
(1994). The interpersonal circumplex and the interpersonal theory: Perspectives on personality and its pathology. In S. Strack & M. Lorr (Eds.), Differentiating normal and abnormal personality (pp. 114-136). New York: Springer.
32.
Pincus, A. L.
, & Boekman, L. F. (1993, August). Social-emotional adjustment and the five-factor model of personality. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association annual convention, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
33.
Pincus, A. L.
, & Borkovec, T. D. (1994, June). Interpersonal problems in generalized anxiety disorder: Preliminary clustering of patients' interpersonal dysfunction. Paper presented at the American Psychological Society annual convention, Washington, DC.
34.
Pincus, A. L.
, & Gurtman, M. B. (1994). The three faces of interpersonal dependency: Structural analyses of self-report dependency measures. Manuscript submitted for publication.
35.
Pincus, A. L.
, & Wiggins, J. S. (1990). Interpersonal problems and conceptions of personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 4, 342-352.
36.
Rutter, M.
(1983). Statistical and personal interactions: Facets and perspectives. In D. Magnusson & V. L. Allen (Eds.), Human development: An interactional perspective (pp. 295-319). New York: Academic Press.
37.
Schwartz, G. E.
(1983). Psychobiology and health: A new synthesis. In B. L. Hammonds & C. J. Scheirer (Eds.), Psychology and health: The master lecture series (Vol. 3, pp. 149-192) Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
38.
Soldz, S.
, Budman, S., Demby, A., & Merry, J. (1993). Representation of personality disorders in circumplex and five-factor space: Explorations with a clinical sample. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 5, 41-52.
39.
Sullivan, H. S.
(1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton.
40.
Talley, P. F.
, Strupp, H., & Morey, L. C. (1990). Matchmaking in psychotherapy: Patient-therapist dimensions and their impact on outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 182-188.
41.
Tellegen, A.
, & Lubinski, D. (1983). Some methodological comments on labels, traits, interaction, and types in the study of "femininity" and "masculinity": Reply to Spence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 447-455.
42.
Weinberger, D. A.
(1990). The construct validity of the repressive coping style. In J. L. Singer (Ed.), Repression and dissociation: Implications for personality theory, psychopathology, and health (pp. 337-386). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
43.
Weinberger, D. A.
(1991). Social-emotional adjustment in older children and adults: L Psychometric properties of the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory. Unpublished manuscript, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
44.
Weinberger, D. A.
, & Schwartz, G. E. (1990). Distress and restraint as superordinate dimensions of self-reported adjustment. Journal of Personality, 58, 381-417.
45.
Weinberger, D. A.
, Tublin, S. K., Ford, M. E., & Feldman, S. S. (1990). Preadolescents' social-emotional adjustment and selective attrition in family research. Child Development, 61, 1374-1386.
46.
Wentzel, K. R.
, Feldman, S. S., & Weinberger, D. A. (1991). Parental child rearing and academic achievement in boys: The mediational role of social-emotional adjustment. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11, 321-339.
47.
Wentzel, K. R.
, Weinberger, D. A., Ford, M. E., & Feldman, S. S. (1990). Academic achievement in preadolescence: The role of motivational, affective, and self-regulatory processes. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 11, 179-193.
48.
Wiggins, J. S.
(1979). A psychological taxonomy of trait descriptive terms: The interpersonal domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 395-412.
49.
Wiggins, J. S.
(199la). Agency and communion as conceptual coordinates for the understanding and measurement of interpersonal behavior. In W. M. Grove & D. Cicchetti (Eds.), Thinking clearly about psychology. Volume 2: Personality and psychopathology (pp. 89-113). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
50.
Wiggins, J. S.
(1991b, August). Conceptual and structural considerations in the assessment of interpersonal problems. In L. E. Alden (Chair), Assessment of interpersonal problems: Implications for treatment and research. Symposium conducted at the convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
51.
Wiggins, J. S.
, Phillips, N., & Trapnell, P. D. (1989). Circular reasoning about interpersonal behavior: Evidence concerning some untested assumptions underlying diagnostic classification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 296-305.
52.
Wiggins, J. S.
, & Pincus, A. L. (1989). Conceptions of personality disorders and dimensions of personality. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1, 305-316.
