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Published on: December 2, 2015
Negative attributional style, hopelessness depression and endogenous depression
1Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1051, USA. joiner@psy.fsu.edu
Abstract:
The hopelessness theory of depression [Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I. & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: a theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372.] postulates that a negative attributional style represents a risk factor for a particular constellation of depressive symptoms, termed 'hopelessness depression'. Four studies tested the relation of negative attributional style to hopelessness depression symptoms versus endogenous depression symptoms. Despite the considerable overlap of hopelessness and endogenous depression symptoms, negative attributional style was more related to the former than the latter, consistent with hopelessness theory.
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