Association of Attributional Style for Negative and Positive Events and the Occurrence of Life Events with Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

Abstract This study examined the relationship of attributional styles for negative and positive events with depression and anxiety. A sample of 239 college students underwent structured diagnostic interviews and completed self–report measures of attributional style and major life events at two time points separated by approximately four weeks. Using cross–sectional methodology, attributional styles for negative and positive events were compared across current diagnoses of unipolar depression and/or anxiety. A current mood disorder, when comorbid with an anxiety disorder, was associated with a tendency to see negative events as arising from internal, stable, and global causes. A depression diagnosis was distinguished from no depression diagnosis by the tendency to assign external, unstable, and specific causes for positive events. Using a prospective design, Time 1 attributional styles for negative and positive events were assessed as moderators of the relationships between negative and positive life event...