The Children's Attributional Style Interview: Developmental tests of cognitive diathesis-stress theories of depression

This paper presents an initial assessment of the Children's Attributional S tyle Interview (CASI), a newly designed measure for assessing attributional style in young children (age 5 and up). The CASI was used to conduct prosp ective tests of the reformulated helplessness (L. Y. Abramson, M. Seligman, & J. Teasdale, 1978) and the integrated hopelessness/self-esteem (G. I. Me talsky, T. E. Joiner, Jr., T. S. Hardin, & L. Y Abramson, 1993) theories of depression in a sample of 147 5-10-year-old children. For comparison, the same tests were also conducted with the Children's Attributional Style Ques tionnaire-Revised (CASQ-R; N. J. Kaslow & S. Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), a commo nly used measure for assessing attributional style in older children (age 8 and up). The CASI evidenced support of the reformulated helplessness theor y and partial support of the integrated hopelessness/self-esteem theory. Th e CASI also demonstrated good internal consistency. Thus, our findings prov ide initial support for the CASI as a methodologically sound measure of att ributional style for children as young as 5 years old. Although preliminary , our findings also suggest possible developmental differences in how attri butional style interacts with self-esteem and negative life stress. The CAS I should prove to be a useful tool in furthering the understanding of the o rigins and development of attributional style in childhood, as well as its contribution to the understanding of the development and prevention of depr essive symptomatology in children.