The relationship between interpersonal distress and psychological health was investigated using a sample of 185 college undergraduates. Subjects completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (a measure of interpersonal distress), the Personal Orientation Inventory (a measure of self-actualization), and the Miller Social Intimacy Scale (a measure of interpersonal closeness). The mean of scores on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems was compared with the mean of the clinical sample reported in 1988 by Horowitz, et al. The measures of psychological health were correlated with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems total and with the octant scales of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex version. The measures were also projected onto the circumplex to summarize their interpersonal connotations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AldenL. E.PhillipsN. (1990) An interpersonal analysis of social anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 499–512.
2.
AldenL. E.WigginsJ. S.PincusA. L. (1990) Construction of circumplex scales for the inventory of interpersonal problems. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 521–536.
3.
BenjaminL. S. (1982) Use of structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) to guide intervention in psychotherapy. In AnchinJ. C.KieslerD. J. (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal psychotherapy. New York: Pergamon. Pp. 190–212.
4.
BrammerL. M.ShostromE. L. (1982) Therapeutic psychology: fundamentals of counseling and psychotherapy. (4th ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
5.
HisliN. (1987) Effect of patients' evaluation of group behavior on therapy outcome. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 37, 119–124.
6.
HorowitzL. M.RosenbergS. E.BaerB. A.UrenoG.VillasenorV. S. (1988) Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: psychometric properties and clinical applications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 885–892.
7.
HorowitzL. M.VitkusJ. (1986) The interpersonal basis of psychiatric symptoms. Clinical Psychology Review, 6, 443–469.
8.
HowellD. C. (1992) Statistical methods for psychology. (3rd ed.) Belmont, CA: Duxbury.
9.
KieslerD. J.WatkinsL. M. (1989) Interpersonal complementarity and the therapeutic alliance: a study of relationship in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 26, 183–194.
10.
KnappR. R. (1976) Handbook for the Personal Orientation Inventory. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
11.
LambertM. J.HillC. E. (1994) Assessing psychotherapy outcomes and processes. In BerginA.GarfieldS. (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change. (4th ed.) New York: Wiley. Pp. 72–113.
12.
LearyT. (1957) Interpersonal diagnosis of personality. New York: Ronald.
13.
LuborskyL.Crits-CristophP. (1990) Understanding transference: the core conflictual relationship theme method. New York: Basic Books.
14.
MillerR. S.LefcourtH. M. (1982) The assessment of social intimacy. Journal of Personality Assessment, 46, 514–518.
15.
MillonT. (1981) Disorders of personality, DSM III: Axis II. New York: Wiley.
16.
MohrD. C.BeutlerL. E.EngleD.Shoham-SalomonV.BerganJ.KaszniakA. W.YostE. B. (1990) Identification of patients at risk for nonresponse and negative outcome psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 622–628.
17.
PincusA. L.WigginsJ. S. (1990) Interpersonal problems and conceptions of personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 4, 342–352.
18.
PiperW. E.AzimH. F.JoyceA. S.McCallumM.NixonG. W.SegalP. S. (1991) Quality of object relations versus interpersonal functioning as predictors of therapeutic alliance and psychotherapy outcome. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 179, 432–438.
19.
ShostromE. L. (1966) Personality Orientation Inventory: an inventory for the measurement of self-actualization. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
20.
SoldzS.BudmanS.DembyA.MerryJ. (1993) Representation of personality disorders in circumplex and five-factor space: explorations with a clinical sample. Psychological Assessment, 5, 41–52.
21.
WigginsJ. S. (1982) Circumplex models of interpersonal behavior in clinical psychology. In KendallP. C.ButcherJ. N. (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology. New York: Wiley. Pp 183–221.
22.
WigginsJ. S.BroughtonR. (1991) A geometric taxonomy of personality scales. European Journal of Personality, 5, 343–365.
23.
WigginsJ. S.PhillipsN.TrapnellP. (1989) Circular reasoning about interpersonal behavior: evidence concerning some untested assumptions underlying diagnostic classification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 296–305.
