The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis and Depression

Depressed and nondepressed college students were frustrated in an incentive task utilizing a nonreward technique. Matched controls undertook a similar task in which the frustration condition was absent. Subjects were 127 undergraduate psychology students. Pre- and post-test measures of hostility and depression were obtained. The Beck Depression Inventory, The Hostility and Depression Scales of the Today Form of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List and the Digit Symbol subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale were used as measures. It was found that frustration increased both depression and hostility in the nondepressed subjects but not in the depressed subjects. The findings suggest that there is a significant positive correlation between depression and hostility. (Author)