COGNITION AND LIFE STRESS IN DEPRESSION - COGNITIVE-FACTORS AND THE DEFINITION, RATING, AND GENERATION OF NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS

The relationship between cognitive factors and different conceptualiza tions and measures, of life stress poses important questions for conte mporary theories of depression. We examined whether cognitive factors (dysfunctional attitudes and attributional style) are related to the d efinition, rating, and generation of negative life events. Life events were assessed with both subjective self-report and more objective int erview-based methods in endogenously depressed outpatients. The result s partially support the hypothesis that cognitive factors are related to definition and severity ratings of self-report measures of particul ar types of life events. These relationships held primarily for achiev ement, as compared with interpersonal, events. The results also suppor t the hypothesis that elevated scores on measures of cognition are ass ociated with the number of objectively defined events occurring prior to the onset of depression, suggesting that some patients may generate the life events that in turn may initiate a depressive episode.