A study was conducted on 159 university students; 37 males and 122 females. The two-part study involved the completion of
a
questionnaire and a social
interaction survey. The questionnaire tested for levels of depression. The interaction survey gathered data on the subject's reaction to meeting a stranger. Results indicated that those who could be classified as depressive also had fears and anxieties about meeting strangers, though the meeting was a simple social meeting. The interpersonal theories of Coates and Wortman (1980) and Cane and Gotlib (1985) are used to analyze the results. The general conclusion, with a caveat, is that interactions with non-professionals may be detrimental to depressives.