To assess the relations between depressotypic cognitions and depression proneness, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were administered to 99 university women, along with measures of depression proneness and current affective state. Dysfunctional attitudes and attributional style were both found to correlate significantly with depression proneness, as measured by the Depression Proneness Rating Scales, and with current affective state, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory and the Depression Adjective Checklist. However, when current affective state was statistically controlled, only dysfunctional attitudes continued to show a reliable association with depression proneness. These results support Beck's cognitive model of depression but not the revised learned-helplessness model of depression.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abramson, L. Y. , Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49-74.
2.
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper & Row.
3.
Beck, A. T. , & Beck, R. W. (1972). Screening depressed patients in family practice: A rapid technique. Postgraduate Medicine, 52, 81-91.
4.
Beck, A. T. , Rial, W. Y., & Rickels, K. (1974). Short form of the Depression Inventory: Cross validation. Psychological Reports, 34, 1184-1186.
5.
Beck, A. T. , Rush, J. A., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy and depression. New York: Guilford Press.
6.
Blaney, P. H. (1986). Affect and memory: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 229-246.
7.
Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36, 129-148.
8.
Bumberry, W. , Oliver, J. M., & McClure, J. N. (1978). Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory in a university population using psychiatric estimate as the criterion. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 150-155.
9.
Carver, C. S. , & La Voie, L. (1986). Reexamining the causality of causal attributions in depression: A failure to replicate. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 24, 110-112.
10.
Coyne, J. C. , & Gotlib, I. H. (1983). The role of cognition in depression: A critical appraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 472-505.
11.
Cutrona, C. (1983). Causal attributions and perinatal depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 161-172.
12.
Dobson, K. S. , & Shaw, B. F. (1986). Cognitive assessment with major depressive disorders. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10, 13-29.
13.
Eaves, G. , & Rush, A. J. (1984). Cognitive patterns in symptomatic and remitted unipolar major depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 31-41.
14.
Epstein, S. (1979). The stability of behavior: 1. On predicting most of the people much of the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1097-1126.
15.
Fogel, M. L. , Curtis, G. C., Kordasz, F., & Smith, W. G. (1966). Judges, ratings, self-ratings and checklist reports of affect. Psychological Reports, 19, 299-307.
16.
Forgas, J. P. , & Bower, G. H. (1987). Mood effects on person perception judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 53-60.
17.
Hamilton, T. H. , & Abramson L. Y. (1983). Cognitive patterns and major depressive disorders: A longitudinal study in a hospital setting. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 173-184.
18.
Hammen, C. , Adrian, C., & Hiroto, D. (1988). A longitudinal test of the attributional vulnerability model in children at risk for depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 37-46.
19.
Hollon, S. D. , Kendall, P. C., & Lumry, A. (1986). Specificity of depressotypic cognitions in clinical depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 52-59.
20.
Isen, A. M. , & Means, B. (1983). The influence of positive affect on decision-making strategy. Social Cognition, 2, 18-31.
21.
Klerman, G. L. (1980). Long-term outcomes of neurotic depressions. In S. B. Poulin (Ed.), Human functioning in longitudinal perspective: Normal and psychopathic populations (pp. 58-73). Agincourt, Ontario: Macmillan of Canada.
22.
Lewinsohn, P. M. , Steinmetz, J. L., Larson, D. W., & Franklin, J. (1981). Depression-related cognitions: Antecedent or consequence? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 213-219.
23.
Lubin, B. (1965). Adjective checklists for measurement of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 57-62.
24.
Lubin, B. , Dupre, V. A., & Lubin, A. W. (1967). Comparability and sensitivity of set-2 of the Depression Adjective Check Lists. Psychological Reports, 20, 756-758.
25.
Lubin, B. , Hornstra, R. K., and Love, A. (1974). Course of depressed mood in a psychiatric population upon application for services and at 3-mo. and 12-mo. reinterview. Psychological Reports, 34, 424-426.
26.
Manley, P. C. , McMahon, R. J., Bradley, C. F., & Davidson, P. O. (1982). Depressive attributional style and depression following childbirth. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 245-254.
27.
Metalsky, G. I. , Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., Semmel, A., & Peterson, C. R. (1982). Attributional styles and life events in the classroom: Vulnerability and invulnerability to depressive mood reactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 612-617
28.
Metalsky, G. I. , Halberstadt, L., & Abramson, L. Y. (1987). Vulnerability to depressive mood reactions: Toward a more powerful test of the diathesis-stress and causal mediation components of the reformulated theory of depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 386-393.
29.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
30.
O'Hara, M. W. , Rehm, L. P., & Campbell, S. B. (1982). Predicting depressive symptomology: Cognitive-behavioral models and post-partum depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 457-461.
31.
Peterson, C. , Schwartz, S. M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1981). Self-blame and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 253-259.
32.
Peterson, C. , Semmel, A., von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1982). The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 6, 287-299.
33.
Riskind, J. H. , & Rholes, W. S. (1984). Cognitive accessibility and the capacity of cognitions to predict future depression: A theoretical note. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8, 1-12.
34.
Riskind, J. H. , Rholes, W. S., Brannon, A. M., & Burdick, C. A. (1987). Attributions and expectations: A confluence of vulnerabilities in mild depression in a college student population. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 349-354.
35.
Rush, A. J. , & Beck, A. T. (1978). Adults with affective disorders. In M. Hersen & A. S. Bellack (Eds.), Behavior therapy in psychiatric settings.. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
36.
Seligman, M. E. P. , Abramson, L. Y., Semmel, A., & von Baeyer, C. (1979). Depressive attributional style. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 242-247.
37.
Silverman, J. S. , Silverman, J. A., & Eardley, D. A. (1984). Do maladaptive attitudes cause depression? Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 28-30.
38.
Simons, A. D. , Garfield, S. L., & Murphy, G. E. (1984). The process of change in cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy and depression: Changes in mood and cognition. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 28-30.
39.
Sweeney, P. D. , Anderson, K., & Bailey, S. (1986). Attributional style in depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 974-991.
40.
Weissman, A. N. (1979). The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: A validation study. Dissertation Abstracts International, 40, 1389B-1390B. (University Microfilms No. 79-19,533)
41.
Weissman, A. N. , & Beck, A. T. (1978). Development and validation of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS): A preliminary investigation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto.
42.
Weissman, M. M. , & Myers, J. K. (1978). Affective disorders in a U.S. urban community. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 1304-1310.
43.
Wise, E. H. , & Barnes, D. R. (1986). The relationship among life events, dysfunctional attitudes, and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10, 257-266.
44.
Woodruff, R. A. , Goodwin, D. W., & Guze, S. B. (1974). Psychiatric diagnosis. New York: Oxford University Press.
45.
Wyer, R. S. , & Srull, T. K. (1986). Human cognition in its social context. Psychological Review, 93, 322-359.
46.
Zemore, R. (1983). Development of a self-report measure of depression proneness. Psychological Reports, 52, 211-216.
47.
Zemore, R. , & Bretell, D. (1983). Depression proneness, low self-esteem, unhappy outlook and narcissistic vulnerability. Psychological Reports, 52, 223-230.
48.
Zemore, R. , & Dell, L. W. (1983). Interpersonal problem-solving skills and depression-proneness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 231-235.
49.
Zemore, R. , Fischer, D. G., Garratt, L. S., & Miller, C. (1988). The Depression Proneness Rating Scale: Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Manuscript submitted for publication.
