Children’s Self-blame Appraisals about their Mothers’ Depressive Symptoms and Risk for Internalizing Symptoms

Maternal depressive symptoms are a robust predictor of children’s risk for internalizing symptoms; yet not all children are negatively affected by exposure to their mothers’ symptoms. The present study tested children's self-blame appraisals as a moderator of the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s internalizing symptoms, controlling for children’s negative attributional style. We hypothesized that the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s internalizing symptoms would be stronger for children who blamed themselves more for their mothers’ symptoms. Participants were 129 mother-child dyads (M child age = 13.63, SD = 2.2; 52.7% female; 38.8% White, 31% African American, 22.5% Latinx/Hispanic) recruited from the community. Results indicated that maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of children’s internalizing symptoms for children who reported higher, but not lower, levels of self-blame appraisals. Results were consistent using mothers’ or children’s reports of their own and each other’s symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of assessing children’s appraisals about their mothers’ depressive symptoms, and suggest that preventive interventions should target children who endorse higher levels of self-blame appraisals. Further, children’s self-blame appraisals about mothers’ depressive symptoms should be considered as a target of treatment for child internalizing disorders.

The Buffering Effect of Character Strengths on Depression

The transition from high school to college can be very stressful for Turkish students because they may experience value conflicts and adjustment issues, which can trigger the development of mental health problems. Character strengths can serve as a buffer against psychopathology. The aim of the study was to examine perceived stress and negative attributional style as mediating factors between character strengths and depression among Turkish college students. Bootstrap testing approach was implemented to compute direct and indirect effects and total effect in the mediation analysis. Altogether 235 students from two Turkish universities participated in the study. The results showed that character strengths were associated with lower levels of depression and it was negatively associated with perceived stress and negative attributional style. The results also indicated that perceived stress and negative attribution style completely mediated the relationship between character strengths and depression among Turkish college students. These findings suggested the need to develop empirically supported interventions that can promote character strengths toward reducing stress, negative attributions, and depression in this population.

Ansiedad y tristeza-depresión: Una aproximación desde la teoría de la indefensión-desesperanza

Anxiety and sadness-depression: An approximation from the perspective of the helplessness-hopelessness theory. The purpose of the study was to analyse the constructs of anxiety and sadness-depression from the perspective of the helplessness-hopelessness Theory. Two hundred twenty-nine adults completed five self-reported measures: The Anxiety Situations and Responses Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Tridimensional Depression Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire. The results of correlation analysis and regression models showed strong associations between the different components of anxiety and depression. Moreover, negative attributional style significantly predicted anxiety and depression, especially the cognitive dimension of these constructs, for both female and male participants. We concluded that these emotions share a common element: a characteristic attributional style related to a broader construct, the “negative emotionality”, that includes both anxiety and depression. Keywords: Attributional style; helplessness; negative affect; emotionality. Resumen: El propósito del estudio fue analizar la ansiedad y la tristeza-depresión desde la teoría de la indefensión-desesperanza. Doscientos veintinueve adultos completaron cinco medidas de autoinforme: el Inventario de Situaciones y Respuestas de Ansiedad, el Cuestionario de Ansiedad Estado Rasgo, el Cuestionario Tridimensional para la Depresión, el Inventario de Depresión de Beck, y el Cuestionario de Estilo Atribucional. Los resultados de los análisis correlacionales y los modelos de regresión efectuados arrojaron asociaciones fuertes entre los diferentes componentes de la ansiedad y la depresión. Además, el estilo atribucional negativo predijo de manera significativa la ansiedad y la depresión, especialmente a nivel cognitivo, en mujeres y varones. Se concluyó que el elemento común a dichas emociones puede ser un estilo atribucional característico relacionado con un constructo más amplio, la “emocionalidad negativa”, que comprende tanto la ansiedad como la depresión. Palabras clave: Estilo atribucional; indefensión; afecto negativo; emocionalidad.

A Longitudinal Examination of the Hopelessness Theory of Depression in People Who Have Multiple Sclerosis

Purpose. Hopelessness theory predicts that negative attributional style will interact with negative life events over time to predict depression. The intention of this study was to test this in a population who are at greater risk of negative life events, people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).Method. Data, including measures of attributional style, negative life events, and depressive symptoms, were collected via postal survey in 3 phases, each one a year apart.Results. Responses were received from over 380 participants at each study phase. Negative attributional style was consistently able to predict future depressive symptoms at low to moderate levels of association; however, this ability was not sustained when depressive symptoms at Phase 1 were controlled for. No substantial evidence to support the hypothesised interaction of negative attributional style and negative life events was found.Conclusions. Findings were not supportive of the causal interaction proposed by the hopelessness theory of depression. Further work considering other time frames, using methods to prime attributional style before assessment and specifically assessing the hopelessness subtype of depression, may prove to be more fruitful. Intervention directly to address attributional style should also be considered.

Humour's role in the relation between attributional style and dysphoria

The present study empirically investigated the role of adaptive and maladaptive components of humour in the relation between attributional style and dysphoria. Four hundred eighteen students (134 male, 282 female; 2 respondents did not indicate gender) completed questionnaires measuring attributional style, humour styles and depressive symptoms. Among men and women, higher levels of affiliative and self‐enhancing humour, and lower levels of self‐defeating humour, were each associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Additionally, higher levels of affiliative humour provided a buffer against the deleterious effects of a negative attributional style in men, but not women. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.