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A longitudinal test of the attributional vulnerability model in children at risk for depression
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.
Abstract:
The attributional vulnerability model of depression has rarely been tested in prospective designs, or as an interaction of stressful events and cognitions, or with depression as a specific response outcome. Moreover, the model has rarely been applied to children. All these issues were addressed in this study of prediction of diagnoses during a six-month follow-up for a sample of children that included offspring of women with affective disorders presumed to be at high risk for depression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses failed to support the attributional hypotheses: depression was best predicted by initial symptoms and by life stress but not by attributions for negative outcomes or the interaction of attributions and life-events. Non-affective diagnoses, on the other hand, were predicted by an interaction of life-events and attributions. The results suggest limitations in the range of application of the attributional model in clinical samples, at least with children and adolescents at risk.
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