ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE AND DEPRESSION IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - THE MODERATING ROLE OF PERCEIVED ILLNESS CONTROL

Examined the moderating influence of perceived daily illness control o n the relationship between disease-unrelated causal attributions and D SM-IV depressive symptomatology in a sample of 58 patients with rheuma toid arthritis (RA). As predicted, attribution x perceived control int eractions contributed significant variance to depression, after contro lling for disease variables and arthritis helplessness. Specifically, internal and global attributions for negative events were associated w ith increased levels of depression under conditions of decreased perce ived illness control. Our findings provide support for examining gener al attributional style in studies of depression in RA and for cognitiv e diathesis-stress conceptualizations of adjustment to chronic illness . The clinical implications of our results for cognitive-behavioral tr eatment approaches in RA are also discussed.