The Impact of Stress and Action Control on the Occurrence of Depression on a College Station Population

Abstract

The impact of stress and Kuhl's personality moderator, action control, on the occurrence of depression on a college student population was studied. Three subscales of action orientation were examined, the failure, decision, and performance subscales. Persons who were action oriented on the failure and decision subscales were less depressed than their counterparts ("state oriented" persons). Two measures of stress, major life events and microstressors, both related to depression. Those persons with more stress were more depressed, with the microstressors being the better predictor of depression. Action oriented persons experienced fewer numbers of microstressors.