Schwartz-Mette mentioned in U.S. News & World Report article on dating with depression
Rebecca Schwartz-Mette, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine, was mentioned in the U.S. News & World Report article, “The struggle of dating with depression.” The article cited research conducted by Amanda Rose, a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri; and Schwartz-Mette, who was a doctoral student at the time of the study. The researchers found adolescents with depression often engage in a construct they called “conversational self-focus,” according to the article. “Probably in part because depression makes people have a very narrow focus on themselves and their problems, adolescents with depressive symptoms tended to repeatedly turn conversations to focus back on themselves, especially when the conversations were about problems,” Rose said. “In our studies, their friends were especially likely to see the relationship as poor quality and also reported that they would engage in behaviors to avoid or minimize contact with the friend. We have not studied conversational self-focus in romantic relationships, but I suspect that the same dynamic would occur.”