CONTROL-RELATED BELIEFS AND SELF-REPORTED DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN LATECHILDHOOD

Research thus far links depressive symptoms in children to one type of control-related belief: low levels of perceived personal competence. However, child research, unlike adult research, has not supported a li nkage between depressive symptoms and another theoretically important control-related belief. perceived noncontingency of outcomes. Here we reexamined the issue, adjusting for limitations in previous methodolog y by using (a) psychometrically stronger measures of control beliefs, and (b) a general population sample rather than children being treated in mental health clinics. In contrast to previous results, we found t hat both perceived incompetence and perceived noncontingency were stro ngly related to children's depression, together accounting for 40% of the variance in Child Depression Inventory scores. We also found, as i n previous research, that depressive symptoms were correlated with unc ertainty as to the causes of outcomes, especially successes. The findi ngs suggest that children may be susceptible to both ''personal helple ssness'' and ''universal helplessness'' forms of depression.