Cognitive correlates of depressive symptoms in hospitalized adolescents

This study examined the relationship between self-reported depression and cognitive style in adolescent inpatients. Attributional style, perceived control over environmental events, and hopelessness were assessed in 80 consecutive admissions to an adolescent psychiatric unit. BDI scores were used to classify 36 patients as depressed and 44 as nondepressed. Adolescents who reported depression also reported significantly more internal attributions for negative events and less internal attributions for positive events, evidenced a more external locus of control, and described themselves as significantly more hopeless than did the nondepressed adolescents. Hopelessness and internal attributions for negative events were the strongest predictors of depressive symptoms. In contrast to the findings of most studies using clinical populations of depressed children and adolescents, a maladaptive cognitive style and self-reported depression were highly, positively correlated.