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Self-schemas and risk for depression: a prospective study
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|November 1, 1985
Summary
Depressive self-schemas do not predict future depression risk. Current mood, not schemas, influences information processing, suggesting schemas are symptoms, not causes of depression.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychopathology
Background:
- Depressive self-schemas are hypothesized to increase vulnerability to depression.
- Previous research has not clearly distinguished between schemas as symptoms versus causal factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of depressive self-schemas in vulnerability to depression longitudinally.
- To examine whether depressive self-schemas actively influence information processing.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study followed five groups (varying in depression and schematic status) for 4 months.
- Self-report and clinical interviews assessed depression.
- Information processing was assessed in a second experiment.
Main Results:
- Schema status did not predict depression risk beyond initial mood.
- Life stress did not interact with schemas to predict depression.
- Current mood, not depressive self-schemas, affected information processing.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the distinction between concomitant (symptom) and vulnerability (causal) schemas.
- Depressive self-schemas appear to be consequences rather than causes of depression.
- Clarifies the role of cognitions in the development and maintenance of depression.