Dozois Lab

Research in our lab currently focuses on four primary areas:

• (1) understanding core beliefs and schemas (content and structure) and how they develop, predict depression, and change over time;
• (2) examining how schemas and other cognitive variables influence interpersonal functioning in depression (e.g., excessive reassurance seeking, stress generation);
• (3) testing the influence of partner-schemas on depression and relationship functioning; and
• (4) investigating cognitive and other risk factors in depression and how these can be targeted effectively through evidence-based treatments and preventative interventions.

Romantic Relationships, Partner Schemas, and Depression
We are examining various components of the dyadic partner-schema model (Wilde & Dozois, 2019), a conceptual integration of cognitive and interpersonal theories, to provide a testable theoretical model of the way through which partner-schemas influence, and are reinforced by, maladaptive dyadic processes over time. A series of studies are investigating how the organization of one’s cognitive schema for a romantic partner predicts intimate relationship functioning within the context of depression.

Prime Time
We are testing how mood induction procedures (priming) work which will further our understanding of cognitive vulnerability to depression.

Rumination Processes in the Prediction of Depressive Relapse
We are exploring how rumination interacts with schemas to predict relapse in individuals with previous depression.

Predictors of Interpersonal Stress Generation in Depression
We are working on a number of papers stemming from studies that examined the impact of maladaptive interpersonal schemas on life events and depression; the interface of social rejection, dysphoria, and theory of mind abilities; and, the role of early and proximal risk factors in stress generation. We are also completing a meta-analytic review of interpersonal stress generation.