Success/failure condition influences attribution of control, negative affect, and shame among patients with depression in Singapore

Si-Ning Yeo,Cyrus S Ho,Roger C Ho,Catherine S Tang,Hani Zainal,Eddie M Tong

doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1451-7

Si-Ning Yeo, Cyrus S Ho + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1451-7

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Abstract

BackgroundThere remains a paucity of research on control attribution and depression within Asian populations. This study examines: (1) Success/Failure condition as a moderator between depression and negative affect or shame, and (2) differences in control attribution between patients with depression and healthy controls in Singapore.MethodsSeventy one patients with depression and 71 healthy controls went through a digit-span memory task where they were randomized into either the Success or Failure condition. Participants in the Success condition had to memorize and recall 5-digit strings, while participants in the Failure condition did the same for 12-digit strings. They then completed self-report measures of negative affect, shame, and attribution of control. One-way ANCOVA was performed to examine task condition as a moderator of association between mental health status and post-task negative affect or shame. Test of simple effects was carried out on significant interactions. Sign test and Mann-Whitney U test were employed to investigate differences in attribution of control.ResultsMental health status and Success/Failure condition had significant effects on reported negative affect and shame. Healthy controls reported less post-task negative affect and shame in the Success than in the Failure condition while patients with depression reported similar levels of post-task negative affect and shame in both conditions. However, these differences were not significant in the test of simple effects. In addition, healthy controls felt a stronger sense of personal control in success than in failure and were more likely to blame external factors in failure than in success. Conversely, patients with depression were more inclined to credit external factors in success than in failure and ascribed greater personal control in failure than in success.ConclusionThe results suggest that successful conditions may not necessitate the reduction of negative affect in Asians with depression, indicating possible cultural variation in affective states as a result of control attribution and the importance of attending to these variations in designing psychological intervention for Asians. Further studies are required to gather more evidence on control attributions in different contexts and study other cognitive mechanisms related to depression in the Asian population.

Highlights

There remains a paucity of research on control attribution and depression within Asian populations
Markus and Kitayama [29] have suggested that individuals in a collectivist culture, which is characteristic of an Asian society like Singapore, are more likely to engage in selfcriticism than in self-promotion
Our results suggest that the way Asians attribute internal and external control to success/failure conditions, while similar to the literature on Western counterparts, may have pernicious effects on affective states and depressive symptoms as a successful condition did not alter the reported levels of negative affect in participants with depression

Summary

Introduction

There remains a paucity of research on control attribution and depression within Asian populations. This study examines: (1) Success/Failure condition as a moderator between depression and negative affect or shame, and (2) differences in control attribution between patients with depression and healthy controls in Singapore. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability and carries the heaviest burden of disease among mental and behavioral disorders worldwide [1]. The incremental economic burden [7] and high mortality risk [8] makes MDD an extremely pressing issue. The present study attempts to do so by examining depression, negative affect, and success/failure attribution within an Asian sample. Depression, negative affect and shame Emotion-based theories of psychopathology posit that, compared to the normal population, people with depression experience more negative affect [9, 10]. In particular, is a negative affect characteristic of depression [11, 12]. It is experienced when one fails to meet social or moral standards [13] and includes feelings of powerlessness, self-consciousness, low self-esteem, and low self-worth [14, 15]

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