Dysfunctional Attitudes As A Predictor To Depressive Symptoms In University Students: A Multiwave Longitudinal Study

Objective:(1)To investigate the predictive role of dysfunctional attitudes in the development of depressive symptoms.(2) To examine whether neurotic personality affects the predictive role of dysfunctional attitudes.Methods:A total of 662 adolescents from first to third year in two colleges located in Changsha, Hunan, participated in this longitudinal study for half a year at 1 month intervals. The Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to evaluate depressive symptoms, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-A) was used to evaluate dysfunctional attitudes, the Chinese version of the NEO five factor inventory-neuroticism subscale (FFI-N) was used to evaluate neurotic personality and the General, Academic, Social Hassles Scale for Students (GASHSS) was used to evaluate life events at Time 1.Questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and life events were used at each follow-up.Hierarchical Lineal Modeling (HLM) was used in data analyses.Results:(1)Dysfunctional attitudes were significantly correlated with depressive symptoms (p<0.01),stress (p<0.01)and neurotic personality (p<0.01).(2) The HLM results showed significant main effects of depressive symptoms (p<0.001),stress (p<0.001)and dysfunctional attitudes (p<0.001),and a significant interaction between dysfunctional attitudes and life events(β=0.01,F(1,2725)= 8.28,p< 0.01).(3)After controlling for the effect of neurotic personality, the main effects of depressive symptoms (p<0.001),stress (p<0.001), dysfunctional attitudes (p<0.01)and neurotic personality (p<0.001), and the interaction between dysfunctional attitudes and life events were still significant (β=0.02,F(1,2666)=8.13,p<0.01).Conclusion:(1)The dysfunctional attitudes was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms.Individuals with higher levels of dysfunctional attitudes were at greater risks of having depressive symptoms following the occurrence of negative life events.(2) Dysfunctional attitudes effects were not reduced after controlling for neuroticism personality trait.