Cognitive Vulnerability,Lifetime Risk,and the Recurrence of Major Depression in Graduate Students

The main purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of cognitive risk variables for previous episodes of major depression and for the recurrence of the disorder in a sample of university graduate students (n = 97). Participants were diagnosed with at least one prior episode of major depression and were assessed again 16 months later (n = 77). Consistent with previous findings (Alloy et al., 2000. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 403–418), cognitive measures including dysfunctional attitudes and a negative attributional style were associated with a greater number of previous episodes of depression, controlling for mood, neuroticism, rumination, sociotropy, and autonomy. Cognitive vulnerability in the achievement domain as well as neuroticism and sociotropy were uniquely related to a greater number of previous episodes of depression. Negative attributions and autonomy predicted the recurrence of the disorder, controlling for past history of depression and all other variables. These findings suggest that the autonomous personality style and negative attributions are particularly pernicious for the recurrence of depression in graduate students. The cognitive variables were not related to anxiety diagnoses, but did predict Axis 2 disorders.     

Developmental Origins of Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression: Parenting, Cognitive, and Inferential Feedback Styles of the Parents of Individuals at High and Low Cognitive Risk for Depression

In this study, we examined the role of three social learning mechanisms in the development of undergraduates' depressogenic cognitive styles: modeling of parents' negative cognitive styles; negative inferential feedback from parents regarding the causes and consequences of stressful events in the child's life; and negative parenting practices. We obtained partial support for each of the three hypotheses. Compared to the parents of cognitively low-risk students, cognitively high-risk students' mothers exhibited more negative dysfunctional attitudes and inferential styles themselves; high-risk students' fathers showed less emotional acceptance and warmth; and high-risk students' mothers and fathers both communicated more stable, global attributional feedback and negative consequence feedback for stressful events in their children's lives. In addition, both parents' inferential feedback and fathers' emotional acceptance predicted their undergraduate children's likelihood of developing an episode of major or minor depression or the subtype of hopelessness depression during a 2.5-year prospective follow-up period, with some of these predictive associations mediated totally or in part by the students' cognitive vulnerability status.     

Life Event, Mood, and Cognitive Predictors of Perceived Stress Before and After Treatment for Major Depression

Using regression models, we examined the influence of negative life events, depression severity, dysfunctional attitudes, and problem-solving ability on the perceived stress of depressed outpatients before and after antidepressant treatment. The report of negative life events predicted the level of perceived stress in untreated patients, but was not a significant predictor after treatment. Depression severity, dysfunctional attitudes, and problem-solving ability were associated with each other, improved with treatment, and associated with perceived stress before and after treatment. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that less adaptive coping strategies are applied under conditions of mood disturbance, and that these strategies are in turn linked with increased stress.     

Dysfunctional Attitudes, Coping, and Depression Among HIV-Seropositive Men Who Have Sex with Men

Several studies have documented elevated levels of psychological distress among HIV-seropositive (HIV+) symptomatic men who have sex with men (MSM). However, very little is known about the role of dysfunctional attitudes and coping strategies in maintaining and ameliorating distress levels in ways that can inform those developing psychosocial interventions for HIV+ persons. This study evaluated relations between dysfunctional attitudes and depression and examined the role of coping as a mediator of this relationship among 115 HIV+ symptomatic MSM. Higher Dysfunctional Attitude Scale scores were associated with more reported depressive symptoms. The use of adaptive coping strategies such as active coping was associated with lower depression, whereas use of maladaptive strategies such as denial was related to higher levels of depression. Both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies mediated the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and depression. Findings suggest that interventions aiming at reducing psychological distress in this population using cognitive restructuring and related techniques may achieve their effects by enhancing adaptive coping strategies on the one hand and reducing maladaptive strategies on the other.     

Origins of Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression

Vulnerability has increasingly become the organizing construct around which much research in psychopathology is organized. This is particularly the case for depression, where researchers have begun to focus considerable attention on the variables that may predispose some individuals to this disorder. Much of this attention has been directed toward understanding the origins of these presumed vulnerability processes. In line with this interest, vulnerability origins stemming from schema models, hopelessness models, and attachment theory are discussed, as is the idea of disrupted parent-child interactions in the creation of vulnerability. Within this latter category the link between abuse, maltreatment, cognitive factors andvulnerability is examined. Possible directions for future theory and research in cognitive vulnerability and depression are then discussed.     

Intimacy in Relationships and Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression in Adolescent Girls

By applying principles of developmental psychopathology, it was proposed that low intimacy in adolescent girls' developmentally salient relationships, i.e., with best friends and romantic partners, is associated with cognitive vulnerability to depression. At Time 1, 72 late adolescent girls completed the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992) to assess intimacy in relationships with best friends, romantic partners, mothers, and fathers. At Time 2, the adolescents participated in a negative mood induction. The adolescents completed the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (Weisman & Beck, 1978) before and after the mood induction. The results indicated that little to no intimacy in romantic relationships was associated with cognitive reactivity in a negative mood. Little to no intimacy in relationships with best friends, mothers, and fathers was not associated with cognitive reactivity. Romantic relationships appear to play a key role in adolescent girls' well-being in late adolescence, and low intimacy in these relationships is associated with latent, negative cognitions.     

History of Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Cognitive Styles, and Episodes of Depression in Adulthood

Participants at high (HR) and low (LR) cognitive risk for depression, based on the presence versus absence of negative cognitive styles, were followed longitudinally for 2.5 years. Reported levels of childhood emotional, but not physical or sexual, maltreatment were related to levels of hopelessness and episodes of nonendogenous major depression (NE-MD) and hopelessness depression (HD) during the prospective follow-up period. HR participants reported more childhood emotional maltreatment but less childhood physical maltreatment than did LR participants. In support of Beck's (1967, 1987) theory, cognitive risk fully mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and NE-MD. In support of the hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989), cognitive risk partially mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and hopelessness and fully mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and HD. Additionally, hopelessness partially mediated the relation between cognitive risk and HD.     

The Use of Negative Events to Prime Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression

This prospective study tested three hypotheses put forth to explain previous inconsistencies in research examining the hopelessness theory of depression. Ninety-three university students completed measures of attributional style for achievement and interpersonal events both before and after experiencing a negative prime. Depressed mood was assessed before the priming task, and at two time points after the students completed their most difficult midterm exam: immediately after receiving their exam grade and 4 days later. Both exam outcome and attributional style, but not their interaction, were significant predictors of change in depressed mood immediately following the receipt of exam grades. Primed depressogenic attributional styles for achievement events interacted with a negative exam outcome to predict depressive mood reactions 4 days later.     

The Developmental Origins of Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression: Negative Interpersonal Context Leads to Personal Vulnerability

The articles in this special issue address empirically potential developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression. The findings from these studies converge on the theme that the nature of the interpersonal context within which individuals develop is central to the emergence of cognitive vulnerability versus invulnerability to depression.     

Childhood Maltreatment and Psychopathology: Prospective Tests of Attachment,Cognitive Vulnerability,and Stress as Mediating Processes

A childhood history of maltreatment is a distal risk factor for depression, although less research has examined the proximal mechanisms for this relation. To address this question, three theoretically derived mechanisms were tested as mediators: an insecure attachment style, a negative cognitive style, and negative life events. These mediating processes were examined in two prospective studies. In the first, young adults (n = 652) completed a detailed self-report measure assessing a childhood history (before age 14) of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. In the second, an independent sample of young adults (n = 75) were interviewed with a well-validated, objective, contextual threat interview that assesses a childhood history (before age 14) of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse as well as the surrounding familial context of emotional neglect, antipathy, discipline, and discord. In both studies, participants completed measures of the proposed mediators as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms at 2 time points (10-week interval in Study 1 and 2-year interval in Study 2). Across both studies, a childhood history of emotional maltreatment and adversity specifically predicted prospective elevations of depressive symptoms, whereas no specific form of childhood maltreatment predicted anxiety symptoms after controlling for initial symptoms and overlap among forms of maltreatment. Further, support was found for the proposed mediating processes. An insecure attachment style, a negative cognitive style, and negative events helped to account for the link between childhood maltreatment and later depressive symptoms in young adulthood.     

Attachment,depressotypic cognitions,and dysphoria

Prior research has identified dysfunctional attitudes and depressotypic attributional style as potential cognitive vulnerabilities to depression. The origins of these cognitive vulnerabilities, however, are unknown. The present study was conducted to determine whether perceived attachment to one's primary caregiver in childhood was associated with endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes and depressotypic attributional style in adulthood. Results from 104 undergraduates suggested that (a) perceived attachment was related to dysfunctional attitudes (but not to depressotypic attributional style); and (b) perceived attachment, dysfunctional attitudes, and depressotypic attributional style were related to dysphoria. Moreover, the relation between perceived attachment and dysphoria was partially mediated by dysfunctional attitudes regarding Performance Evaluation and Approval of Others.Preparation of this article was supported by a grant from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, awarded to Mark A. Whisman.     

Dysfunctional attitudes,loneliness, and depression in college students

The role of dysfunctional attitudes in loneliness among college students was investigated. Subjects were 50 introductory psychology volunteers (20 male, 30 female) who completed measures of loneliness severity, depression, and dysfunctional attitudes. The results showed a strong predictive relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and loneliness even after level of depression was statistically controlled. Lonely college students' thinking is dominated by doubts about ability to find satisfying romantic relationships and fears of being rejected and hurt in an intimate pairing. Lonely individuals also experience much anxiety in interpersonal encounters and regard themselves as undesirable to others. Generally, a negative evaluation of self, especially in the social realm, is present. Implications of the results for treatment planning for lonely clients are discussed.     

An Experimental Analysis of the Role of Cognitive Errors in the Development of Depressed Mood Following Negative Social Feedback

This study compared the extent to which negative and positive cognitive errors, dysfunctional attitudes, and self-reported symptoms of depression predicted change in college students' depressed mood and social self-esteem following an experimentally arranged negative social event. The amount of negative cognitive errors, the ratio of negative-to-positive cognitive errors, the amount of dysfunctional attitudes, and the amount of depressive symptoms obtained several weeks earlier each separately predicted change in depressed mood following the receipt of bogus negative social feedback. A subsequent 4-step hierarchical regression analysis found that the ratio of negative-to-positive cognitive errors contributed unique variance to the prediction of change in depressed mood after controlling for prior self-reported symptoms of depression and dysfunctional attitudes. Further, only the ratio score significantly predicted change in social self-esteem. Implications for Beck's cognitive model of depression, the limitations of the current study, and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Dysfunctional attitudes,stress, and negative emotions

This research examined several hypotheses relating to the proposed moderating effect of dysfunctional attitudes on the relationship between stressful events and mood disturbance. Participants in Study 1 completed the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Daily Hassles Scale. As predicted, dysfunctional attitudes significantly moderated the relationship between the reported frequency of microstressors and dysphoria. Study 2 extended these findings by means of a laboratory experiment in which participants completed a video task under both minimally and moderately stressful social evaluative conditions. In further support of the proposal that dysfunctional attitudes enhance stress appraisals and negative emotions, individuals scoring high on the DAS displayed increased levels of physiological arousal, anxiety, and self-consciousness throughout the experimental procedures. In addition, these individuals perceived greater disapproval and rejection on the part of the experimenter in the moderately stressful condition than did individuals scoring low on the DAS. Findings from these two studies were discussed in terms of the role of dysfunctional attitudes in stress appraisals, and negative emotions such as anxiety and dysphoria.     

Dysfunctional Attitudes,Dependency, and Self-Criticism as predictors of depressive mood states: A 12-month longitudinal study

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) and the Dependency and Self-Criticism scales from the Depressive Experiences Questionnaaire (DEQ) have been identified as possible markers for vulnerability to depressive mood states (Blatt, 1974; Weissman & Beck, 1978). Sixty-six undergraduate women were tested with the DAS, the DEQ, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Approximately 12 months later, 46 subjects were successfully contacted and retested with those scales. In addition, they rated the severity of their worst period of dysphoria during the 12-month interval using a retrospective version of the BDI and measures of anaclitic and introjective state depression. All three vulnerability measures displayed acceptable temporal stability. After controlling for initial levels of depression, the DAS predicted the BDI measure of worst period depression. Dependency predicted anaclitic state depression, and Self-Criticism predicted introjective state depression. The majority of both dependent and self-critical subjects' worst periods involved interpersonal events. The results added to the evidence that stable cognitive and personality variables confer vulnerability to depressive mood states.     

Fear of Criticism and Rejection Mediates an Association Between Childhood Emotional Abuse and Adult Onset of Major Depression

The current study examines whether a particular negative cognitive style, Fear of Criticism and Rejection, a subscale of Sociotropy, mediates an association between perceived childhood emotional abuse and adult onset of major depression. The study was motivated by Rose and Abramson's theory that childhood emotional abuse may be particularly relevant to the development of adult cognitive risk for depression. The case–control sample used in the study (N = 50) was drawn from a larger case–control study examining adult cognitive styles and major depression. Childhood emotional abuse was assessed from retrospective reports using a structured interview. Consistent with expectations, Fear of Criticism and Rejection mediated an association between perceived childhood emotional abuse and major depression in adulthood.     

Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression and Axis II Personality Dysfunction

The study of common vulnerabilities to depression and personality disturbance is important given that depression and Axis II personality disorders exhibit high rates of comorbidity and comorbid personality dysfunction is associated with longer duration of depressive episodes, increased risk of relapse, and poorer outcome. Further, it has been demonstrated that a relationship exists between cognitive vulnerabilities to depression, such as negative cognitive style and dysfunctional attitudes, and personality dysfunction. This study sought to further explore the relationship between cognitive vulnerability to depression and Axis II pathology by examining links between personality dysfunction, cognitive risk status, and rumination in a sample with no current Axis I disorders, while controlling for current and past depression. At high vs. low cognitive risk for depression, 349 undergraduates completed diagnostic interviews and self-report questionnaires during Phase I, Phase II, and Time 1 of the Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project. As expected, cognitive risk and rumination were related to overall Axis II pathology. Cognitive risk status was also significantly related to several personality disorder dimensions, including paranoid, schizotypal, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive. Rumination was uniquely related to the borderline and obsessive-compulsive dimensions. Our findings confirm and expand upon the relationship between cognitive vulnerabilities to depression and personality dysfunction.

Correlation of the Experience of Peer Relational Aggression Victimization and Depression among African American Adolescent Females*

PROBLEM: This study aimed to examine if the experience of peer relational aggression victimization (PRAV) can be linked to feelings of depression in the African American adolescent female population. METHODS: The sample included 241 college‐age African American adolescent females assessed for PRAV and depression. Statistical analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between the variables. FINDINGS: PRAV in this study population does exist as a detrimental phenomenon, whereby PRAV significantly correlates with depression, r (214) = 0.29, p < .01. CONCLUSION: Nurses can assist the adolescent clients experiencing relational aggression by becoming knowledgeable on the presentation and manifestations of this experience.     

Cognitive Vulnerability to Hopelessness Depression: A Chain Is Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link

The hopelessness theory proposes that depressogenic inferential styles about the self, consequences, and causes serve as vulnerability factors to hopelessness depression. Previous research on the diathesis–stress component of the theory has examined each inferential style separately. Doing so, however, is likely to provide an inaccurate test of the theory because individuals who possess only one depressogenic inferential style but who show increases in symptoms following negative events will appear to support the theory in some analyses but to contradict the theory in others. The weakest link hypothesis posits that an individual is as vulnerable to hopelessness depression as her most depressogenic inferential style makes her. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, when testing the theory, researchers should determine each participant's degree of vulnerability using her most depressogenic inferential style. The goal of the current study was to test the diathesis–stress and symptom components of the hopelessness theory in seventh grade children using both the traditional and weakest link approaches. Seventy-nine children completed measures of depressogenic inferential styles and depressive symptoms (Time 1). Ten weeks later (Time 2), they completed measures of depressive symptoms and negative events. Neither depressogenic inferential styles about the self, consequences, nor causes interacted with negative events to predict increases in symptoms of hopelessness depression. In line with hypotheses, however, children's weakest links interacted with negative events to predict increases in hopelessness depression symptoms. In addition, in line with the symptom component of the theory, this interaction did not predict increases in nonhopelessness depression symptoms.     

Cognitive Vulnerability for Depression: Deployment of Attention as a Function of History of Depression and Current Mood State

This study examines the performance of 40 previously depressed and 40 never depressed women on a computerized deployment-of-attention task. Half of the subjects completed the task in a neutral mood condition, while the others completed the task after undergoing a sad mood induction procedure. Results indicated that, for trait-like word stimuli, the previously depressed subjects who were in the sad mood condition performed the task in an unbiased fashion, attending equally to positive-, negative-, and neutral-content stimuli. In contrast, previously depressed subjects in the neutral condition and never depressed subjects in both mood conditions, with one exception, directed their attention away from negative stimuli. This pattern of results suggests that nonvulnerable individuals and vulnerable individuals in a neutral mood exhibit a protective bias in their attentional functioning, which may contribute to their ability to maintain their nondepressed status. In contrast, vulnerable individuals in a sad mood appear to lose this protective bias, and this may be one pathway that contributes to their vulnerability to developing depression. These results are discussed in the context of cognitive theory and mood activation hypotheses of vulnerability for depression.