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01-06-2006 | Original Paper

Development and Validation of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children: Tests of Beck’s Cognitive Diathesis-stress Theory of Depression, of Its Causal Mediation Component, and of Developmental Effects

Auteurs: David U. D’Alessandro, Kimberly D. Burton

Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Uitgave 3/2006

Abstract

Two studies investigated Beck’s cognitive diathesis-stress theory of depression in children. Study 1 sought to develop and validate the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children (DAS-C). Children (N = 453, ages 8–14) completed an item pool and measures assessing divergent validity, with a readministration 3 weeks later. The finalized DAS-C is a 22-item self-report measure with sound psychometric properties. Study 2 tested the DAS-C as a measure of vulnerability for depression. Children (N = 241, ages 7–14) completed the DAS-C and a measure of depressive symptoms one week before a universal stressor (receipt of report cards). Symptomatology was reassessed immediately after the stressor and five days later. Dysfunctional attitudes moderated the impact of stress on changes in symptom levels five days later, such that high-DAS-C children showed greater symptom increases relative to low-DAS-C children when experiencing stress. Consistent with cognitive-developmental theory, further analyses revealed that this interaction predicted symptom changes only in more cognitively mature children. Negative views of the self, but not of the world or of the future, mediated the relationship between the DAS-C × stress interaction and depressive changes. This work introduces a measure of depressogenic schemata to extend Beck’s theory to school-aged children, suggesting that these schemata contribute to the etiology of depressive symptoms in children as young as 11 years.

vorige artikel Expanded Hopelessness Theory of Depression: On the Mechanisms by which Social Support Protects Against Depression

volgende artikel Effects of Approach and Avoid Mindsets on Performance, Self-regulatory Cognition, and Affect in a Multi-task Environment

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As is common in Toronto, a large proportion of the children came from families that had recently immigrated into Canada. Children indicated from which country their family had originated. Ethnicity was distributed as follows: 5.9% North American, 7.9% South American, 2.4% Central American, 21.6% Caribbean, 14.5% European, 1.3% East Asian, 24.2% Southeast Asian, 2.9% African, 1.5% Middle Eastern, and 15.2% from the Indian Subcontinent. No ethnicity was identified by 2.6% of participants.

Despite evidence of a unidimensional DAS-C, we noted that final items mapped onto both achievement and interpersonal cognitive vulnerabilities that have been addressed when using the DAS. Three judges classified the final DAS-C items into achievement or interpersonal categories. Confirmatory factor analyses comparing the fit of a unidimensional DAS-C with the fit of a 2-factor solution based on achievement and interpersonal DAS-C subscales indicated that a unidimensional solution was the best fit. Post hoc exploratory regression analyses were conducted with both subscales yielding no diathesis-stress interactions.

Of the N = 268 at Time 1, 11 participants were absent at Time 2, and 14 were absent at Time 3. Two children received no report card because of late enrolment.

Given the high degree of ethnic diversity in this sample, we also examined potential group differences in key variables. There were no group differences in the variables examined in the central regression analyses, specifically Times 1, 2, and 3 CDI, DAS-C, and PRQ. Controlling for ethnicity in these regression analyses yielded an identical pattern of results.

Additional regression analyses tested the PRQ × DAS-C interaction separately in younger and older children with the sample split at 132 months (11 years) as well as at 144 months (12 years). The same pattern of results emerged as when split at the median age.

We conducted the mediation analyses using the full sample as well as using only the older children based on the sample split at its median age. The same pattern of results emerged in both cases. We report the results for the full sample.

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Titel: Development and Validation of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children: Tests of Beck’s Cognitive Diathesis-stress Theory of Depression, of Its Causal Mediation Component, and of Developmental Effects
Auteurs: David U. D’Alessandro
Kimberly D. Burton
Publicatiedatum: 01-06-2006
Uitgeverij: Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers
Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Uitgave 3/2006
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9046-5

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