Depressed clients' attributions of responsibility for the causes of and solutions to their problems

This study examined the attributions made by depressed clients about respon sibility for the causes of and solutions to their problems. A total of 160 university counseling center clients completed the Beck Depression Inventor y (A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987) and instruments measuring attributions o f responsibility internality stability, and controllability for their probl ems. Support was obtained for the hypothesis that depressed clients blame t hemselves more for causing their problems than do nondepressed clients. How ever, client attributions of responsibility for solving problems were not a ffected by level of depressive symptoms. Finally P. Brickman et al.'s (1982 ) theory of responsibility attributions was found to be modestly related wi th B. Weiner's (1985) attribution theory.