DEPRESSION AND ATTRIBUTIONS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS - A METAANALYTIC REVIEW

This article presents a meta-analytic review of the association betwee n attributional styles and depressive symptoms in children and adolesc ents. In 28 studies involving 7500 subjects, the correlations were con sistent with those predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression. For negative outcomes, attributions along the int ernal, stable, and global dimensions were associated positively with d epression. Conversely, higher levels of depressive symptoms were relat ed to more external, unstable, and specific attributions for positive events Additionally, overall composite maladaptive attributional patte rns for positive and negative events were correlated with higher level s of depressive symptoms in youth. Effect sires for these associations ranged from moderate to large (Cohen, 1977). Findings from the signif icance tests of the combined results support the theory. A large numbe r of unretrieved studies revealing null effects would be needed to inv alidate these findings.