| Three studies were conducted, involving the development and initial validation of a measure of attributional style and the application of that measure in tests of the hopelessness theory of depression proposed by Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy (1989; Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372). The Health Attributional Style Questionnaire (HASQ) was developed in response to the need for a face-valid, psychometrically sound measure of health-related attributional style for use with subjects varying widely in age, health status, and physical functionality. The first study documented the internal consistency and criterion validity of the HASQ in a large sample of undergraduate students. In the second study, support for internal consistency and construct validity were obtained in a smaller sample of chronically ill patients. The third study applied the HASQ and other measures in several tests of the hopelessness model of depression in a sample of patients with end-stage renal disease. A longitudinal design permitted investigation of change in depression across time, and the high-risk population provided essential variability on measures of stress, hopelessness, and depression. Study 3 replicated the findings of Metalsky and Joiner (1992; Vulnerability to depressive symptomatology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 667-675). by demonstrating the moderating effect of attributional style on the association between illness-related stress and depressive symptoms. The diathesis-stress interaction effect was partially mediated by hopelessness. However, predictions from hopelessness theory regarding the distinct symptom profile hypothesized to be associated with hopelessness depression were not confirmed. Neither did medical regimen adherence, conceptualized as requiring "initiation of voluntary responses" and hypothesized to be deficient in hopelessness depression, correlate more strongly with depressive symptoms among participants whose responses were consistent with hopelessness model predictions. Finally, there was no evidence from Study 3 to support the differential prediction of anxious and depressive symptoms via indices of helplessness and hopelessness, initially hypothesized by Alloy, Kelly, Mineka, and Clements (1990; Comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders: A helplessness-hopelessness perspective. In J. D. Maser & C. R. Cloninger (Eds.), Comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders (pp. 499-543). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.). |
