Citation

Gibb BE, Alloy LB, Walshaw PD, Comer JS, Shen GH, Villari AG. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 2006; 34(3): 425-439.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York 13902-6000, USA. bgibb@binghamton.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10802-006-9022-2

PMID

16619141

Abstract

A number of studies have supported the hypothesis that negative attributional styles may confer vulnerability to the development of depression. The goal of this study was to explore factors that may contribute to the development of negative attributional styles in children. As hypothesized, elevated levels of depressive symptoms and hopelessness at the initial assessment predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the 6-month follow-up period. In addition, elevated levels of verbal victimization occurring between the 2 assessments, as well as that occurring in the 6 months preceding the initial assessment, prospectively predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the follow-up. Further, initial depressive symptoms and verbal victimization during the follow-up continued to significantly predict attributional style change even when the overlap among the predictors was statistically controlled. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, neither parent-reported levels of overall negative life events nor parents' attributions for their children's events predicted changes in children's attributional styles.

Language: en