A prospective test of the hopelessness theory of depression in adolescence

Depression increases sharply during adolescence. This study prospectively i nvestigated etiological predictions from the hopelessness theory of depress ion (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) among a sample of middle to late ad olescents to examine whether this theory can be applied to this important a ge group. High school students completed measures of attributional style, h opelessness, negative stressors, general depressive symptoms, and specific hypothesized hopelessness depressive (HD) symptoms at two rimes separated b y 5 weeks. Results showed that the attributional style X stress interaction predicted increases in depressive symptoms from TI to T2. Gender moderated this interaction for the BDI such that the vulnerability-stress component held for boys, bur not girls. Consistent with the vulnerability-stress comp onent of the theory, these effects held for the increase in HD symptoms for both boys and girls, but not non-HD symptoms. Mediational analyses did not provide consistent support for hopelessness as a mediator of this associat ion. These results were mostly the same whether the internal, stable, and g lobal dimensions versus only the stable, global dimensions of attributional style were used to operationalize cognitive vulnerability. Overall, result s suggest that the cognitive vulnerability-stress aspect of the hopelessnes s theory can be applied to middle to late adolescence.