AbstractThe relation between aspects of depression and the wish to be held was studied in 72 male and 57 female college students. Females reported higher levels of depressive experiences associated with issues of dependency as well as more intense wishes to be held. In both sexes the intensity of the wish to be held was related to dependency; however, it was the correlations of these variables with level of depression that revealed differences between males and females. In males, the wish to be held covaried positively with the overall level of depression, whereas in females it remained invariant across levels of depression. Thus, males who describe themselves as more depressed, relative to other males, expressed more feelings associated with dependency and more intense wishes to be held.