Dl. Spangler et al., EVALUATING THE HOPELESSNESS MODEL OF DEPRESSION - DIATHESIS STRESS AND SYMPTOM COMPONENTS, Journal of abnormal psychology, 102(4), 1993, pp. 592-600
The hopelessness model of depression posits that latent attributional
diatheses combine with stressors to produce a specific subtype of depr
ession characterized by a specific set of symptoms. Associations betwe
en attributional diathesis, stress, and symptoms were examined to test
the prediction that hopelessness depressions are characterized by a s
pecific symptom profile. Fifty-seven depressed outpatients were catego
rized into sub groups on the basis of whether or not they met the crit
eria of L. Y. Abramson, L. B. Alloy, and G. I. Metalsky's (1988) hopel
essness depression, defined as a match in content domain between attri
butional diathesis and negative stressor. Support for hopelessness dep
ression was mixed. The hopelessness subtype differed from other major
depressions with respect to symptom profile. However, the differences
in symptomatology were not wholly consistent with the predictions of t
he hopelessness model.