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Copyright 2005 by the Department of Counseling & Clinical Psychology Teachers College, Columbia University ISSN 1088-4661
John R. Z. Abela
McGill University
While several studies have supported the hopelessness theorys claim that depressogenic inferential styles serve as vulnerability factors to depression, little research has examined how these styles develop. The current study examined three theories of their development in children between the ages of 7 and 13. Results supported two of these theories, indicating that children with pessimistic inferential styles report experiencing higher levels of specific negative life events than children without these styles. Furthermore, parents of children with a depressogenic inferential style about consequences provided more pessimistic feedback about the consequences of negative events in their childs life than parents of children without this style. Results suggest that different pathways lead to the development of the three pessimistic inferential styles.
While it was once believed that childhood depression was a rare or transitory developmental phenomenon, evidence has since accumulated depicting the high prevalence rate, chronic course and debilitating consequences of depression in children (Schwartz, Gladstone, & Kaslow, 1998). As prevalence rates of depression have soared to epidemic proportions (Lewinsohn, Rohde, Seeley, & Fisher, 1993), the average age of onset has decreased (Reich et al., 1987). Epidemiological studies have recently reported that by 14 years of age, as many as 9% of children have already experienced at least one episode of severe depression (Lewinsohn et al., 1993). Research further indicates that childhood depression is a chronic disorder with up to 84% of depressed children experiencing depressive episodes in adulthood (Harrington, Rutter, & Frombonne, 1996). Childhood depression has been shown to be associated with a wide range of psychiatric and physical health problems in adulthood, as well as impairment in multiple domains of functioning (e.g., Fleming, Boyle, & Offord, 1993; Kandel & Davis, 1986; Rao et al., 1995).
The research reported in this article was supported by a New Scholar Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to John R. Z. Abela. We would like to thank Nadia Castiel, David DAlessandro, Melanie Ewing, Hugo Gagnon, Nima Ghomeshi, Emily Haigh, Alexandra McIntyreSmith, Zohreen Murad, Anna Radzioch, Caroline Sullivan, and Krystyna Zaluski for administering questionnaires to children and their parents, as well as for scoring questionnaires. Portions of this article were presented at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Philadelphia, PA, November, 2001. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sabina Sarin, Department of Psychology, Yale University, P.O. Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205; e-mail: sabina.sarin@yale.edu.
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Theoretical Origins of the Depressogenic Inferential Styles: The Role of Negative Life Events
Another theory that has been proposed to explain the origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression is that experiencing certain types of negative events leads to the development of depressogenic inferential styles (Beck, 1967, 1987; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Rose & Abramson, 1992). While it is normative to be exposed to disappointments, losses, failures, and other negative events over the course of development, they nonetheless can affect an individuals outlook on life, particularly if they are pervasive and severe (Janoff-Bulman, 1992). Theorists have speculated that either (1) experiencing a large number of negative events that occur in the context of multiple and likely interacting domains (e.g., a highly dysfunctional family, divorce, high levels of poverty, loss of a parent, problematic peer relationships), or (2) experiencing negative events that are chronic (e.g., parental/marital discord) and/or extremely traumatic (e.g., parental death, rape) are likely to generate personal themes of helplessness, derogation and unworthiness that become deeply encoded in self-structures (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Rose & Abramson, 1992). Such self-structures consequently lead to the development of depressogenic inferential styles. Thus, stressful life experiences can provide the foundation for the development of negative beliefs. Several studies have provided support for the hypothesized relationship between the occurrence of negative life events and the development of depressogenic inferential
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Procedure
Families who responded to the advertisements were scheduled to come into the lab for an assessment. Upon arrival, parents completed a consent form and a demographics form. Children were told that their participation was voluntary and that they could choose not to participate. Research assistants then verbally administered the following questionnaires to the child alone: (1) Childrens Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ; Seligman et al., 1984); (2) Childrens Cognitive Style Questionnaire, (CCSQ; Abela, 2001); (3) Social Support Scale for Children (SSSC: Harter, 1986); (4) The Childrens Life Events Scale (CLES; Coddington, 1972); (5) Childrens Hassles Scale (CHAS; Kanner, Feldman, Weinberger, & Ford, 1987); and (6) Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ; Bernstein & Fink, 1998). At the same time, the parents separately completed the following questionnaires: (1) Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson & Villanova, 1988); (2) Expanded Cognitive Style Questionnaire (CSQ; Abramson & Metalsky, 1986); and (3) Parental Feedback Style Questionnaire (PFSQ; Abela, 2002a). Upon completion of the assessment, the children and their parents were debriefed.
Measures
Childrens Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ). The CASQ contains 48 items. Each item is a hypothetical event (24 negative and 24 positive) that respondents are asked to imagine happened to them. Since the hypotheses of
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Attributional Style
Results pertaining to the inferential style about causes are presented in Table 1. In support of our hypotheses, results indicated that children with a pessimistic inferential style about causes reported lower levels of social support (t(16) = 2.21, p < .05) than children with an optimistic inferential style about causes. Exploratory analyses of the subscales of the SSSC revealed that pessimistic children reported lower levels of support from friends (t(16) = 2.07, p < .06) and classmates (t(16) = 2.56, p < .06) but not from parents (t(16) = 1.10, ns) and teachers (t(16) = 1.73, ns).
Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations for all Measures for Children with Optimistic and Pessimistic Inferential Styles about Causes Optimistic inferential style about causes 1. ASQ-GEN 2. PFSQ-GEN 3. SSSC 4. CHAS 5. CLES 6. CTQ-EA 7. CTQ-PA 8. CTQ-SA 3.23 (0.93) 3.09 (0.96) 43.78 (2.17) 86.89 (13.60) 9.22 (3.27) 8.44 (2.19) 6.56 (1.13) 4.44 (2.00) Pessimistic inferential style about causes 3.52 (0.92) 3.60 (0.93) 34.44 (12.50) 101.78 (17.49) 10.33 (2.60) 9.11 (3.02) 6.44 (1.74) 4.67 (1.12)
Note. ASQ-GEN = Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire, Generality Subscale. PFSQ-GEN = Parental Feedback Style Questionnaire, Feedback about Causes Subscale. SSSC = Social Support Scale for Children. HASC= Hassles Scale for Children. CLES = Childrens Life Events Scale. CTQ-EA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Emotional Abuse Subscale. CTQ-PA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Physical Abuse Subscale. CTQ-SA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Sexual Abuse Subscale.
(t(14) = 2.27, p < .05). Analyses also revealed a nonsignificant trend in which the parents of children with a pessimistic inferential style about consequences exhibited a greater tendency to give their child pessimistic feedback about the consequences of negative events occurring in their childs life (t(14) = 2.05, p < .07) than parents of children with an optimistic inferential style about consequences. However, parents own inferential styles about consequences (t(14) =
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Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations for all Measures for Children with Optimistic and Pessimistic Inferential Styles about Consequences Optimistic inferential style about consequences 1. CSQ-CONS 2. PFSQ-CONS 3. SSSC 4. CHAS 5. CLES 6. CTQ-EA 7. CTQ-PA 8. CTQ-SA 2.67 (0.90) 1.93 (0.86) 40.00 (9.45) 89.00 (15.61) 7.00 (2.45) 9.17 (3.55) 6.33 (1.37) 5.00 (3.10) Pessimistic inferential style about consequences 2.98 (1.15) 3.06 (1.22) 38.40 (8.71) 95.70 (13.01) 9.70 (2.21) 10.30 (4.60) 6.70 (1.70) 5.90 (2.23)
Note. CSQ-CONS = Cognitive Style Questionnaire, Inferential Style about Consequences Subscale. PFSQCONS = Parental Feedback Style Questionnaire, Feedback about Consequences Subscale. SSSC = Social Support Scale for Children. HASC = Hassles Scale for Children. CLES = Childrens Life Events Scale. CTQEA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Emotional Abuse Subscale. CTQ-PA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Physical Abuse Subscale. CTQ-SA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Sexual Abuse Subscale.
styles about the self than the parents of optimistic children (t(23) = .099, ns). In addition, the parents of children with a pessimistic inferential style about the self did not provide their children with more pessimistic feedback about the self-implications of negative events occurring in their childs life than did the parents of optimistic children (t(23) = .951, ns). Furthermore, contrary to our hypothesis, children with pessimistic inferential styles about the self did not report experiencing lower levels of social support (t(23) = .222, ns) than children with optimistic inferential styles about the self. Children with pessimistic inferential styles about the self also did not report a greater number of hassles in the past year (t(23) = 1.70, ns), or a greater number of major negative life events (t(23) = .742, ns ), than children with optimistic inferential styles about the self.
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Table 3 Means and Standard Deviations for all Measures for Children with Optimistic and Pessimistic Inferential Styles about the Self Optimistic inferential style about the self 1. CSQ-SELF 2. PFSQ-SELF 3. SSSC 4. CHAS 5. CLES 6. CTQ-EA 7. CTQ-PA 8. CTQ-SA 2.51 (0.93) 2.04 (1.24) 39.92 (7.82) 86.10 (16.84) 9.04 (3.73) 7.15 (2.61) 5.80 (1.96) 3.62 (1.71) Pessimistic inferential style about the self 2.47 (1.17) 1.66 (0.61) 39.25 (7.34) 97.66 (17.21) 10.00 (2.59) 9.50 (2.94) 6.42 (1.62) 5.50 (1.51)
Note. CSQ-SELF = Cognitive Style Questionnaire, Inferential Style about the Self Subscale. PFSQ-SELF = Parental Feedback Style Questionnaire, Feedback about Self Implications Subscale. SSSC = Social Support Scale for Children. HASC= Hassles Scale for Children. CLES = Childrens Life Events Scale. CTQ-EA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Emotional Abuse Subscale. CTQ-PA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Physical Abuse Subscale. CTQ-SA = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Sexual Abuse Subscale.
Discussion
The results of the current study indicate that different pathways lead to the development of the three pessimistic inferential styles. Specifically, the inferential style about causes was associated with non-family related chronic hassles in the past year, as well as with low levels of social support from classmates and peers. Interestingly, these are all current stressors in the childs life and all pertain to the childs peer environment. On the other hand, the inferential style about consequences was associated with the occurrence of major negative life events, as well as with the inferential feedback the children received from their parents about the consequences of such negative life events. Finally, inferential style about the self was associated with past histories of emotional and sexual abuse.
that parental inferential feedback was a more powerful determinant of childrens inferential style about consequences than was the parents own inferential style about consequences. In addition, also in line with past research, the results of the current study suggest that certain types of negative life events are associated with each of the three inferential styles. That is, a pessimistic attributional style was associated with chronic hassles and low levels of perceived social support. An inferential style about consequences was related to the experience of major negative life events during childhood. Finally, the inferential style about the self was associated with the occurrence of sexual and emotional abuse. Thus, the results of the current study are congruent with past research in that they suggest that both the modeling of inferential feedback and the experience of negative events play a role in the development of cognitive vulnerability to hopelessness depression. At the same time, however, the results of the current study are inconsistent with other findings of past research in that the pathways hypothesized to lead to the development of cognitive vulnerability to hopelessness depression were each associated with only one of the three inferential styles, rather than predicting negative cognitive styles in general. Thus, whereas past research has suggested that similar pathways lead to the development of all three inferential styles, the results of the current study suggest that distinct pathways lead to the development of the pessimistic inferential styles about causes, consequences, and the self.
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References
Abela, J. R. Z. (2001). The hopelessness theory of depression: A test of the diathesis-stress and causal mediation components in third and seventh grade children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 241-254. Abela, J. R. Z. (2002a). The Parental Feedback Style Questionnaire. Unpublished manuscript. McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Abela, J. R. Z. (2002b). Depressive mood reactions to failure in the achievement domain: A test of the integration of the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 531-552. Abela, J. R. Z., & Sarin, S. (2002). Cognitive vulnerability to hopelessness depression: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 811-829. Abela, J. R. Z., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2000). The hopelessness theory of depression: A test of the diathesis-stress component in the interpersonal and achievement domains. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24, 361-378. Abela, J. R. Z., Brozina, K., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Priming of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression: A test of the diathesis-stress component of the hopelessness theory of depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. Manuscript submitted for publication. Abramson, L. Y., & Metalsky, G. I. (1986). The Cognitive Style Questionnaire: Measurement of negative cognitive styles about self and consequences. Unpublished manuscript. Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372. Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87 , 4974.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the results of the current study suggest that both the modeling of inferential feedback and the expe-
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