Do Message Features Influence Responses to Depression Disclosure? A Message Design Logics Perspective

This project uses a multiple goals theoretical perspective to examine the sophistication of responses to depression disclosure. In the first study, 504 college students imagined that a friend revealed a depression diagnosis using one of several messages exhibiting different identity management goals. Their responses were coded for expressive, conventional, or rhetorical message design logic. Variation in how depression was disclosed influenced the sophistication of responses. In the second study, 352 individuals with depression rated messages taken verbatim from the first study. Expressive messages were evaluated less favorably than conventional messages, which in turn were rated less favorably than rhetorical messages. The discussion focuses on the connection between attention to multiple goals and communication sophistication in responding to important disclosures.