MARITAL ATTRIBUTIONS IN SPOUSES OF DEPRESSED-PATIENTS

Causal attributions (i.e., locus, stability, globality) and responsibi lity attributions (i.e., bad intent, selfish motivation, blame) were a ssessed in the spouses of 27 depressed psychiatric inpatients and 30 n ondepressed dyads to test predictions derived from Hooley's (1987) ''s ymptom-controllability'' model of marital distress. Results indicated that (1) depressed patients and their spouses were less dyadically adj usted than nondepressed spouses, (2) causal and responsibility attribu tions about depressive behaviors predicted lower dyadic adjustment, an d (3) attributions of causality mediated the relationship between grou p status (depressed or nondepressed) and dyadic adjustment among spous es who had higher expectations for their partner to change. Results su ggest that among spouses with a high expectancy for change, depression may be a risk factor for marital distress.