Negative attributional style in seasonal and nonseasonal depression

OBJECTIVE: There is a substantial relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and the clinical course of major depression. This study examined whether this association extends to patients with seasonal affective disorder. METHOD: A revised version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire was used to assess negative attributional style and predict response to treatment in a group of depressed outpatients, 26 with seasonal depression and 30 with nonseasonal, unipolar major depression. RESULTS: Pretreatment scores on negative attributional style did not differ between the patients with seasonal affective disorder and those with nonseasonal depression. Negative attributional style predicted poor response to pharmacotherapy in the nonseasonal depression group but did not predict response to light therapy in the group with seasonal affective disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Dysfunctional cognitions may play a lesser role in seasonal affective disorder than in nonseasonal depression.     

Attributional style, depression, and perceptions of consensus for events.

This study examined the differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals' implicit perceptions of consensus, which may contribute to differences in their attributional styles. Subjects rated the extent to which positive, negative, and neutral events happen to themselves and to the average college student and completed measures of depth of depression and attributional style. Perceptions of consensus were highly correlated with all components of attributional style for negative and positive events. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that ratings of others explained variance in attributional style beyond that explained by ratings of the self for positive but not for negative events. Path analyses, however, indicated that the indirect path from perceptions of consensus to depression mediated through attributional style was nonsignificant for positive events, although it was significant for negative events. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of perceptions of others as precursors of attributional style and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating the hopelessness model of depression: Diathesis-stress and symptom components.

The hopelessness model of depression posits that latent attributional diatheses combine with stressors to produce a specific subtype of depression characterized by a specific set of symptoms. Associations between attributional diathesis, stress, and symptoms were examined to test the prediction that hopelessness depressions are characterized by a specific symptom profile. 57 depressed outpatients were categorized into subgroups on the basis of whether or not they met the criteria of L. Y. Abramson et al (1988) for hopelessness depression, defined as a match in content domain between attributional diathesis and negative stressor. Support for hopelessness depression was mixed. The hopelessness subtype differed from other major depressions with respect to symptom profile. However, the differences in symptomatology were not wholly consistent with the predictions of the hopelessness model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions and expectations: A confluence of vulnerabilities in mild depression in a college student population.

The reformulated model of learned helplessness assumes that attributional style has its impact on depression in part through the intermediary effect of pessimistic or negative expectations about the occurrence of future outcomes. A possible logical next step in testing the model is to measure jointly attributions and expectations and to examine their combined (interactive) contributions. We used a short-term longitudinal design to examine whether attributional style works in combination with other factors, such as expectations, to predispose individuals to depression. Consistent with the initial theoretical analysis, the interaction of attributional style and expectations predicted depression on the Beck Depression Inventory 6 weeks later. We also found that attributional style predicted depression 6 weeks later in interaction with initial level of depression. These findings support our confluence hypothesis, which assumes that vulnerability factors can combine interactively and qualify the effects of attributional style. These interaction-effect findings have implications for currently popular cognitive theories of depression and for previous research on vulnerability to depression that has examined only the effects of single cognitive variables (such as attributional style) considered alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of depression risk factors: A solution-focused approach.

M. Seligman (1990) postulated that 3 meaning frames determine whether temporary sad feelings persist and eventually evolve into clinical depression: the permanence, pervasiveness, and personal causation of negative or stressful events. Successful treatment is thought to consist of interventions that modify these 3 meaning frames that contribute to depression. The authors combine Seligman's observations with 3 types of intervention questions used by therapists in solution-focused psychotherapy: exception, outcome, and coping and/or externalization questions. It is suggested that use of certain classes of intervention from solution-focused psychotherapy may shorten and potentiate treatment of depression. Solution-focused psychotherapy techniques are illustrated using a case study of a 69-yr-old man treated for depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental modification of attribution processes.

Attributional style is hypothesized to be a causative factor in depression vulnerability; however, no studies to date have examined whether manipulation of attributional style influences depressed mood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether computer-based cognitive bias modification (CBM) procedures could modify attributional style and influence stress vulnerability. Participants were provided with multiple training trials that were intended to promote the use of either a positive or a negative attributional style. Compared with individuals in the negative attributional style condition, individuals in the positive attributional style condition showed decreased tendency to make self-deficient causal attributions for poor performance on a difficult anagram test. Furthermore, individuals in the positive attributional style condition reported less depressed mood in response to this academic stressor. These results suggest that attributional style is not invariable and can potentially be modified with CBM approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models of cognitive mediation and moderation in child depression.

Negative cognitive errors, attributional style, positive and negative events, peer-nominated competence, and self-reported depression were assessed in 356 4th, 6th, and 8th graders. Data supported theoretical models in which attributional style and cognitive errors mediated the relation of competence to depression. Data did not support models in which attributional style moderated the relation between either life events or competence and depression; however, weak support emerged for a moderational model involving negative life events and cognitive errors. The viability of diathesis–stress models in childhood, especially in which cognitive style is the diathesis, is critically examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of stressful life events and depression: A test of attributional models.

Tested the attributional models of depression proposed by L. Y. Abramson et al (see record 1979-00305-001), using 278 undergraduates who had recently experienced a stressful event and 51 55–79 yr old adults who sought treatment for problems with depression. Three questions were addressed: (a) the validity of the hypothesized independent and direction relation between each of the dimensions of internality, stability, controllability, intentionality, and globality and depression; (b) the causal relation between attributions and depression in a 2-mo prospective study; and (c) evaluation of the model on the 2 disparate samples. Ss were administered a battery of depression measures; students completed an attribution questionnaire, while adults completed a measure of life stress attributions. Causal modeling statistical procedures were applied to both the question of concurrent relations and causal relations between cognitions and depression. Results suggest minimal support for the attributional model: The dimensions were not each independently and directly associated with depression in the manner predicted, and the model that best fit the data was generally congruent for both the normal and clinical samples. In terms of direction of causality, the data were more consistent in indicating that depression causes cognitions than in indicating the reverse. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diabetes results from a late change in the autoimmune response of NOD mice

Alfano, Joiner, and Perry (1994) used analysis of variance and analysis of covariance in a sample of college students to demonstrate that attributional style mediates between shyness and depression, as opposed to depression mediating between shyness and attributional style. They suggested, however, the hypothetical possibility of a third model, in which negative attributional style, rather than shyness, is the independent variable, and shyness serves as a mediator between attributional style and depression. In the current study, this alternative model was tested by using LISREL to reanalyze the Alfano et al. data. Results showed that this third model, with shyness as the mediating variable, fit the model quite poorly, in contrast to the preferred model of Alfano et al., which fit quite well. However, variants of this model, in which shyness functionally precedes both attributional style and depression, fit the data better. The substantive implications of this model for counseling practice and the methodological cautions about interpreting cross-sectional data for temporal sequences are discussed.     

Depressive attributions: Selection of different causes or assignment of dimensional meanings?

Although attributional models of depression suggest that depression is associated with internal, stable, and global causal explanations of events, they do not specify whether the depressive attributional process involves the selection of certain causes, the assignment of dimensional meanings to those causes, or both. The extent of agreement between a priori and perceived dimensions of causes was examined in the present study, and the equivalence of the existing cause-rating method and 2 variants of the dimension-rating method were tested. 51 male and 45 female undergraduates were administered attribution and depression questionnaires. Findings indicate that the choice of causes did not reliably indicate the perceived dimensions and that there was poor convergence between existing methods that assess causes and those that assess dimensions. When causes and dimensions were each measured in a manner that avoided confounding by the other, each made a unique contribution to the prediction of depression scores. Cause ratings alone were significantly associated with depression scores, but the optimal prediction of depression included both causes and dimensions. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The causality of causal attributions in depression: A cross-lagged panel correlational analysis.

The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model of depression proposes that causal attributions about negative outcomes play a causal role in reactive depression. This research tested this hypothesis by studying the causal role of attributions in depression in 180 college students. On 2 occasions separated by 1 mo, Ss were administered a battery of tests that included an attributional style questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. The attributional dimensions of internality, stability, and globality were correlated with depression; when the possible causal role of attributions was tested through the use of cross-lagged panel correlational analysis, the hypothesis that stability and globality attributions for bad outcomes might be causes of depression was supported. There was no support, however, for the hypothesis that internal attributions for bad outcomes are a cause of depression. Evidence was also found that unstable attributions for good outcomes may function as a cause of depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal meaning, optimism, and choice: existential predictors of depression in community and institutional elderly

The psychosocial model of mental health posits that late-life depression arises from the loss of self-esteem, loss of meaningful roles, loss of significant others, and diminished social contacts. This study examined the unique, combined, and interactive contribution of existential variables (personal meaning, choice/responsibleness, optimism) and traditional measures (social resources, physical health) as predictors of depression in institutionalized and community-residing older adults, average age 77.8 years. Using multiple hierarchical regression, the results showed that choice/responsibleness, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in community elderly; personal meaning, optimism, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in institutionalized elderly. In both samples, the existential variables accounted for unique variance in depression over and above that accounted for by traditional measures. The important role of existential constructs in transcending personal and social losses and feelings of depression are discussed.     

The contributions of attributional style, expectancies, depression, and self-esteem in a cognition-based depression model.

Used structural equation modeling to examine the relations among attributional style (AS), outcome expectancies for future life-events, depression, and self-esteem among 195 college students. Ss completed questionnaires assessing AS, outcome expectancies, depression, and self esteem. Consistent with the hopelessness and self-regulation theories of depression, the 1st series of models illustrated that positive attributional styles (PAS) and negative attributional styles (NAS) had direct influences on expectancies, and that expectancies had a direct influence on depression. An NAS influenced depression independent of one's expectancies for the future. A 2nd series of models, which included the latent construct of self-esteem, showed that the previously modeled relations showing a PAS and an NAS having direct influence on expectancies and expectancies having a direct inverse effect on depression remained consistent. A PAS had an indirect positive influence on self-esteem via expectancies. A PAS also had a direct positive effect on self-esteem, an unexpected finding according to self-regulation theory. The final model also showed that self-esteem was inversely influenced by depression. A LISREL correlation matrix is appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporary vascular occlusion during cerebral aneurysm surgery

Mood disorders and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) co-occur in 20-30% of children and adolescents diagnosed in both epidemiological and clinical studies, but little information is available regarding cognitive factors that may be relevant to the expression of co-occurring mood disorders and ADHD. This study examined whether ADHD with and without a comorbid mood disorder could be differentiated on the basis of cognitive factors associated with prominent theories of depression. Children meeting diagnostic criteria for ADHD (n = 14) or ADHD and a comorbid mood disorder (n = 27) were assessed on a variety of cognitive indices. Children in the comorbid group reported more negative views of themselves and a more depressogenic attributional style. Cognitive disturbances associated with A. T. Beck's (1967) cognitive model and attributional style theories of depression differentiate ADHD children with significant mood pathology.     

Positive life events, attributional style, and hopefulness: Testing a model of recovery from depression.

A model of a recovery process from depression that is compatible with the hopelessness theory of depressive onset is proposed. This model predicts that depressives who have an enhancing attributional style for positive events (i.e., make global, stable attributions for such events) will be more likely to regain hopefulness and, thereby, recover from depression, when positive events occur. This prediction was tested by following a group of depressed college students longitudinally for 6 weeks. Although neither positive events alone nor attributional style alone predicted reduction in hopelessness, depressives who both showed the enhancing attributional style for positive events and experienced more positive events showed dramatic reductions in hopelessness which were accompanied by remission of depressive symptoms. Thus, attributional style for positive events may be a factor that enables some depressives to recover when positive events occur in their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, self-esteem, and the absence of self-protective attributional biases.

Previous research has demonstrated a relation between depression and attributional style. In the present study we evaluated the extent to which self-esteem may be an important determinant of attributional style. Subjects completed measures of self-esteem, depression, and anxiety and responded to the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Maximum R–2 analyses revealed that for significant one-variable and multivariable regression models, self-esteem accounted for the variation in attributional style on the majority of outcome measures. Depression and anxiety added little beyond the contribution of self-esteem. These findings were consistent for both positive and negative events. In addition, self-esteem accounted for variation in attributional evenhandedness. Results are discussed in terms of the role of self-esteem maintenance in attributional style. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style in clinically depressed and conduct disordered adolescents.

We tested the reformulated learned helplessness theory of depression with adolescent inpatients (N?=?63) who were diagnosed by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria as depressed, or conduct disordered, or both. Adolescents with major depression diagnoses differed from nondepressed adolescents with significantly lower attributional style scores for positive events. The study also evaluated the relation of self-reported depression, anxiety, and social maladjustment to attributional style. Subjects who reported more severe depression had a significantly lower composite score for internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events. The composite of internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events was not significantly related to either diagnosed or self-reported depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style as a risk marker of genetic effects for adolescent depressive symptoms.

Genetic effects on adolescent depression have been consistently reported, but little is known about mediating pathways from the distal genotype to resultant behavioral symptoms. Identifying intermediate risk markers may provide clues on these pathways. In the present study, longitudinal twin and sibling data were used to address 3 issues pertaining to attributional style as a putative marker of genetic risk for adolescent depression: state independence by assessing predictive effects between attributional style and depressive symptoms, heritability of attributional style at different time points, and genetic links between attributional style and depressive symptoms characterizing concurrent and longitudinal associations. The authors further examined whether these predictive and genetic links varied across levels of stress, age, and gender. Negative attributions preceded, co-occurred with, and followed symptoms. The predictive association between earlier negative attributions and later depressive symptoms did not differ by stress, age, or gender. Attributional style was moderately heritable at both time points. Genetic links with concurrent and prospective depressive symptoms were larger in individuals reporting higher levels of stress, who were older and female. Implications for attributional style as a marker reflecting genetic risks are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive factors differentiating attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder with and without a comorbid mood disorder.

Mood disorders and attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) co-occur in 20–30% of children and adolescents diagnosed in both epidemiological and clinical studies, but little information is available regarding cognitive factors that may be relevant to the expression of co-occurring mood disorders and ADHD. This study examined whether ADHD with and without a comorbid mood disorder could be differentiated on the basis of cognitive factors associated with prominent theories of depression. Children meeting diagnostic criteria for ADHD (n?=?14) or ADHD and a comorbid mood disorder (n?=?27) were assessed on a variety of cognitive indices. Children in the comorbid group reported more negative views of themselves and a more depressogenic attributional style. Cognitive disturbances associated with A. T. Beck's (1967) cognitive model and attributional style theories of depression differentiate ADHD children with significant mood pathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emergence of attributional style and its relation to depressive symptoms.

The development of depressive attributional style (AS) and its role as a cognitive diathesis for depression were examined in children and adolescents (Grades 2-9). In a 4-wave longitudinal study of 3 overlapping age cohorts, AS, negative life events, and depressive symptoms were evaluated every 12 months. Consistency of children's attributions across situations was moderately high at all ages. The cross-sectional structure of AS changed with age, as stability became a more salient aspect of AS than internality and globality. The structure of AS also changed, becoming more traitlike as children grew older. In longitudinal analyses, evidence of a Cognitive Diathesis × Stress interaction did not emerge until Grades 8 and 9, suggesting that AS may not serve as a diathesis for depression at younger ages. Results suggest that attributional models of depression may require modification before they are applied across developmental levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)