| Abstract: | Conducted a meta-analysis of the attribution–depression relation in studies appearing in the clinical, social, personality, and educational literatures. In 104 studies involving nearly 15,000 Ss, several attributional patterns had reliable associations with depression scores. For negative events, attributions to internal, stable, and global causes had a reliable and significant association with depression. Studies in which the attribution factors of ability and luck were measured also showed a reliable association with depression. Ability and luck attribution factors for positive events were also associated with depression. The relations for positive events, however, were weaker than the corresponding ones for negative events. In general, these patterns of relations were independent of a number of potential mediators suggested by authors in this literature, including the type of S studied (psychiatric vs college student), the type of event about which the attribution is made (real vs simulated), the depression measure used, or the publication status of the research report. Conclusions are compared with those of other reviews. Implications for attributional models of depression are discussed. (81 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
