Hopelessness depression as a distinct dimension of depressive symptoms among clinical and non-clinical samples

Subtyping depression has been an interest of theorists and clinicians for a t least four centuries. In this paper, we examined the validity of the symp tom cluster component of the hopelessness theory of depression. We used str uctural equation modeling analyses on large samples of psychiatric outpatie nts (N=1604, 844, and 680) and Air Force cadets (N=1404) who completed the items of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Findings were supportive of t he hopelessness depression cluster as a distinct depressive syndrome. Impli cations for the nosology of depression and for depression theory were discu ssed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.