Causal attributions and perinatal depression.

85 1st-time mothers (18–35 yrs old) were followed from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy through the 2nd mo after childbirth. Initial attributional style was assessed (Attributional Style Questionnaire; ASQ) as well as causal attributions for a range of naturally occurring stressful events. Ss were assessed for level of depression with the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression at 3 points. Pregnancy scores on the ASQ predicted level of postpartum depression among Ss who were not depressed during pregnancy. However, among Ss who were depressed during pregnancy, the ASQ was not a significant predictor of postpartum depression. Speed of recovery from postpartum depressive symptoms was significantly predicted by the ASQ. Other results indicate that the ASQ was not a good predictor of causal attributions for naturally occurring stressful events. Attributional style had a direct relationship to subsequent depression, rather than an indirect relationship mediated by causal attributions for actual stressful events. Unless findings can be attributed to problems in the measurement of attributions for actual events, modifications in the reformulated learned helplessness model may be indicated. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence.

The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model as outlined by L. Y. Abramson et al (see record 1979-00305-001) claims that an explanatory style in which bad events are explained by internal, stable, and global causes is associated with depressive symptoms. This style is claimed to be a risk factor for subsequent depression when bad events are encountered. A variety of new investigations of the helplessness reformulation are described that have employed 5 research strategies: cross-sectional correlational studies, longitudinal studies, experiments of nature, laboratory experiments, and case studies. Ss in these investigations included children, college students, poor women, depressed patients, and prisoners. Most of these studies involved the use of the Attributional Style Questionnaire and measures such as the Beck Depression Inventory and Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. These studies converge in their support for the learned helplessness reformulation. (120 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-blame and depressive symptoms.

Investigated whether internal attributions for bad events are always associated with depression. The depressive symptoms of 86 female undergraduates correlated with blame directed at their own characters. In contrast, blame directed at their own behaviors correlated with lack of depressive symptoms. Behaviorally attributed bad events were seen as more controllable and their causes less stable and less global than were characterologically attributed bad events and their causes. Characterological blame increased with more negative life events during the last year, implying that individuals who blame their character may arrive at this attributional style by a covariation analysis. Finally, characterological blame did not precede the onset of depressive symptoms 6 or 12 wks later. As a result, characterological blame may be a strong concomitant of depression but not a cause. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive attributional style.

143 undergraduates completed an attributional style scale designed by the authors, the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Results show that depressed Ss, compared to nondepressed Ss, attributed bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, as measured by the attributional style scale. This attributional style was predicted by the reformulated helplessness model of depression. In addition, relative to nondepressed Ss, depressed Ss attributed good outcomes to external, unstable causes. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and attributions: Factors responsible for inconsistent results in the published literature.

According to the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness, depressive symptoms are associated with an attributional style that points to internal and global causes for bad events involving the self. 61 tests of the attributional reformulation published in 6 journals (e.g., Cognitive Therapy and Research) since 1978 were analyzed to determine factors that might distinguish findings that corroborated the reformulation's predictions from those that did not. Use of a large sample and hypothetical events was correlated with support for the reformulation with respect to stable and global attributions. However, these characteristics were highly intercorrelated across studies, making it impossible to isolate their independent effects. None of the factors (e.g., nature of the sample, method of assessing depression) examined consistently distinguished supporting from nonsupporting studies with respect to internal attributions. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions for real and hypothetical events: Their relation to self-esteem and depression.

Examined the association between attributional style, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and general distress to test hypotheses derived from a learned helplessness model and B. Weiner's (see record 1979-28688-001) attributional model of motivation. 178 male and female undergraduates completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and an attributional style questionnaire and were asked to make causal attributional ratings about 12 hypothetical events. 151 Ss also were asked to make diary ratings on 14 real events. Attributional ratings were internally consistent across events, but attributions about positive outcomes were either uncorrelated or positively correlated with attributions about negative outcomes, failing to support learned helplessness predictions that a single process underlies attributions about positive and negative events. As predicted, internal attributions for positive outcomes were primarily associated with high self-esteem. Only internal stable attributions for negative outcomes were related to depressive symptoms, consistent with Weiner's model. The pattern of correlation between attributions and general distress was essentially identical to that obtained with depressive symptoms. Attributions for real events were similar in their effects to ratings of hypothetical events. (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)     

Learned helplessness in children: A longitudinal study of depression, achievement, and explanatory style.

Assessed the depressive symptoms, life events, and explanatory styles of 168 8–11 yr olds 5 times over a 1-yr period to test the prediction that the maladaptive explanatory style would be associated with higher levels of depression, lower school achievement, and higher incidences of helpless behaviors in the classroom. Ss completed the Children's Depression Inventory, the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire, and a life events questionnaire. Measures of school achievement (the California Achievement Tests) were obtained once during the year. Depressive symptoms and explanatory styles were found to be stable over the year. As predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness theory, explanatory style both correlated with concurrent levels of depression and school achievement and predicted later changes in depression during the year. Depression also predicted later explanatory styles. Implications for intervention with children with depressive symptoms or school achievement problems are discussed. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive attributes of depression in children and adolescents.

This study explores whether cognitive attributes differentiate depressed children from those with other psychiatric disorders. The subjects were 108 children from 7 to 17 years of age. Forty-seven children were diagnosed as currently depressed, 30 as having had an episode of major depression within the last year (depressed-resolved), and 31 with diagnoses other than depression (nondepressed). The subjects completed the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the Children's Hopelessness Scale, the Nowicki-Strickland Children's Locus of Control Scale, the Children's Attributional Styles Questionnaire, and the Children's Depression Inventory. The depressed children endorsed significantly lower self-esteem, more hopelessness, a more externalized locus of control, and a more depressive attributional style than the depressed-resolved or the nondepressed children. Thus, a depressive cognitive style can be documented in clinically depressed young people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of sexual victimization in childhood: An attributional approach.

Explored the relation between childhood sexual victimization experience and adult functioning in 103 women (aged 18–56 yrs) who were victimized as children or adolescents and 88 women (aged 18–57 yrs) who were not victimized, who served as controls. Members of both groups completed a questionnaire about their present social, psychological, and sexual functioning; measures included the Beck Depression Inventory, SCL-90, Texas Social Behavior Inventory, Attributional Style Questionnaire, Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Victimized Ss differed significantly from nonvictims on measures of (a) childhood family and social experiences; (b) adult attributional style; and (c) levels of depression, psychological distress, self-esteem, and sexual problems. Results suggest that the sexually victimized Ss' adult functioning was related most strongly to their attributional style for bad events. Perception of the victimization experience and quality of social support were important factors related to adult functioning. Possible implications for treating women who are experiencing problems related to childhood sexual victimization experiences are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions and stress: Direct and moderating effects on depressive versus externalizing symptoms during the junior high school transition.

This study examined direct and stress-moderating effects of attributional style and global self-worth on depressive and externalizing symptoms in adolescents. Attributional style, perceived self-worth, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were assessed in 371 students in the spring of 6th grade. After the transition to 7th grade, they again completed measures of depression and externalizing symptoms as well as measures of negative life events and school hassles. Stressors around the transition predicted both depressive and externalizing behaviors. Perceived self-worth predicted depressive symptoms, but not externalizing behaviors. Attributional style directly and in interaction with stressors predicted depressive symptoms and did not predict externalizing behavior. A 3-way interaction between stress, attributional style, and self-worth suggested that level of perceived self-worth may moderate the effects of attributional style in times of stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Depressed and nondepressed inpatients' cognitions of hypothetical events, experimental tasks, and stressful life events.

40 depressed (mean age 40 yrs) and 30 nondepressed (mean age 38 yrs 3 mo) inpatients' attributions and other cognitions were assessed for 3 types of situations: stressful life events (the Beck Depression Inventory), hypothetical events (Attributional Styles Questionnaire), and experimental (noise-escape) tasks. Depressed Ss manifested a greater depressive attributional style in response to stressful life events but did not differ from nondepressed Ss in their attributions of hypothetical events or experimental tasks. Correlations assessing cross-situational consistency of attributions were largely nonsignificant. Corrections for attenuation and analyses of trained evaluators' ratings of Ss' attributions did not substantially alter the pattern of results. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective memory for positive and negative story content in children with high self- and peer-ratings of symptoms of depression.

Evaluated 322 6th-grade students (aged 10–13 yrs) who completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and a peer nomination inventory for depression (PNID). 89 Ss had high or low self-reported depressive symptoms (DSYs) and 62 had high or low peer-reported DSYs. Ss were presented with a story consisting of 10 positive events (PEs) and 10 negative events (NEs) and a memory task. The bulk of the findings are contradictory to a mood-congruent learning effect, in that Ss with high depressive ratings underrecognized NEs and overreported PEs. The significant interaction between group status (high or low depressive rating) and valence of story events for recognition memory, found with both CDI and PNID (males only) suggests that S's status interacts with memory for PEs and NEs. However, the interaction suggests that DSYs impair recognition memory for NEs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-situational consistency in causal attributions: Does attributional style exist?

Two studies evaluated the concept of an attributional style, as operationalized by the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Study 1, with 1,333 undergraduates, examined the reliability and validity of the ASQ and analyzed the factor structure of the measure. Only weak evidence of a cross-situationally consistent attributional style was found. An attempt to identify Ss who tended to be very consistent in their causal attributions on the ASQ similarly did not provide strong support for the attibutional style concept. In Study 2, the relation between scores on the ASQ and causal attributions for actual negative events, as assessed by the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, were examined among 85 pregnant women. Attributional Style scores were poor predictors of actual causal attributions, and selecting highly consistent Ss did not improve the ASQ's predictive validity. Implications for the attributional style concept and an attributional analysis of depression are discussed. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive attributional style and depression following childbirth.

The reformulated learned helplessness model posits that individuals who make internal, stable, and global attributions for undesired outcomes are more likely than others to become depressed when faced with important life events that are perceived as uncontrollable. Two questions arise from the reformulated learned helplessness model within the context of the event of childbirth. The 1st question is whether the relationship between depressive attributional style and concurrent depression found in college undergraduates can be extended to women anticipating the birth of their 1st child. The 2nd question is whether women's prenatal attributional style is predictive of depression in the 1st wk postpartum. 50 pregnant women (mean age 28.85 yrs) completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire and 3 measures of depression during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and 3 days postpartum. The results provide negligible support for the notion of depressive attributional style as defined by the hypothesis. Depression of clinical severity was reported by 2–6% of Ss during the 3rd trimester and by 10–24% postpartum. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's Perceived Illness Uncertainty as a Moderator in the Parent-Child Distress Relation in Juvenile Rheumatic Diseases.

Objective: Examine children's perceived illness uncertainty as a potential moderator in the parent-distress/child-depressive-symptom relation in youths with juvenile rheumatic disease (JRD). Participants and Study Design: 50 youths between the ages of 9 and 17 and their parents completed self-report measures. Main Outcome Measures: Parents completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (L. R. Derogatis & N. Melisaratos, 1983); youths completed the Children's Depression Inventory (M. Kovacs, 1992) and the Children's Uncertainty in Illness Scale (L. L. Mullins & V. L. Hartman, 1995). Results: Children's perceived illness uncertainty moderated the parent-distress/child-depressive-symptom relation. Parent distress was associated with child depressive symptoms only under conditions of high child-perceived uncertainty; under conditions of low illness uncertainty, parent distress was unrelated to child depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Results highlight the role of children's cognitive appraisals in parent-child adjustment relations in JRD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents.

Tested the prediction of the reformulated learned helplessness model, which claims that the tendency to explain bad events by internal, stable, and global causes potentiates quitting when bad events are encountered. Two studies were conducted, using a total of 197 life insurance agents as Ss. Explanatory style, as measured by the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), correlated with and predicted the performance of the Ss. In a cross-sectional study, Ss scoring in the top half of the ASQ sold 37% more insurance in their 1st 2 yrs of service than those scoring in the bottom half. In a prospective 1-yr study of newly hired agents, Ss who scored in the top half of the ASQ when hired remained in their job at twice the rate and sold more insurance than those scoring in the bottom half of the ASQ. These 2 studies support the claim that a pessimistic explanatory style leads to poor productivity and quitting when bad events are experienced, and they extend the usefulness of the ASQ to the workplace. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of their peer experiences: Attributions, loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance.

338 3rd and 5th graders completed a sociometric questionnaire and 3 instruments designed to assess their feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, social avoidance, and their attributions for social outcomes. Results show that children's feelings and attributions varied as a function of peer status, gender, and grade. For example, compared with peers, rejected children reported higher levels of loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Children's feelings were also significantly related to their attributions about social events. Popular, average, and controversial status children who were socially distressed exhibited a non-self-serving attributional style, whereas distressed rejected children exhibited a self-serving attributional pattern. Neglected children who were distressed exhibited elements of both of these attributional styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style and self-esteem; The prediction of emotional distress following a midterm exam.

A midterm design was used to determine whether students' attributional style for negative achievement events interacts with self-esteem and a lower-than-expected exam grade to predict changes in measures of specific and nonspecific depression and anxiety. Participants were 141 students who completed baseline measures of attributional style and self-esteem, as well as affective measures on several occasions before and after receipt of midterm grades. A pessimistic attributional style for negative events interacted with self-esteem and outcome to predict residual changes in a combined measure of nonspecific distress and anxious arousal (marginal trend) but not a combined measure of specific depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, the greatest residual increases in distress occurred among low-self-esteem pessimists who experienced a nonfailure outcome. These effects did not appear to be mediated by changes in hopelessness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)