The Staats-Heiby theory of depression: the role of event frequency and affect reevaluated

This paper reports an attempt to replicate and extend a study by Rose and Staats (Behavior Research and Therapy, 26, 489-494, 1988) and reviews their attempts to find support for two subtypes of depression as predicted by the Staats-Heiby theory of unipolar depression. Due to methodological and analytical problems in the work by Rose and Staats (1988) it was felt that the conclusions they drew were unjustified. In this study 160 university students completed the Mood Related subscales of the Pleasant (PES-MR) and Unpleasant Event Schedules (UES-MR) and the Beck Depression Inventory. Overall, the contention that different subtypes of depression could be differentiated on the basis of the interaction between frequency of events and the affective value of events was not supported. However, there was some support for the role of pleasant event frequency, unpleasant event frequency, and event unpleasantness in depression. The results indicate that the relationship between event frequency and hedonic strength differs between the PES-MR and UES-MR. It is argued that the research methodology and analyses used could not adequately assess the hypotheses generated from the Staats-Heiby model.