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Clouds and silver linings: Depressive symptoms and causal attributions about ostensibly “good” and “bad” events

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Abstract

Eighty-seven female undergraduates who had completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) provided attributions for ostensibly good and bad events involving themselves. The tendency to offer attributions for “good” events that highlighted their undesirable aspects was strongly associated with BDI scores (r =.48, p <.001), while the tendency to offer attributions for “bad” events that highlighted their desirable aspects was negatively associated with BDI scores (r = −.24, p <.05). It was concluded that attributional investigations of depression should not limit attention just to attributions per se.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 24061, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Christopher Peterson

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  1. Christopher Peterson
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Additional information

This research was supported by PHS MH-19604 to Martin E. P. Seligman. Thanks are expressed to research assistants Karen Seltzer and Daniel Prezant.

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Peterson, C. Clouds and silver linings: Depressive symptoms and causal attributions about ostensibly “good” and “bad” events. Cogn Ther Res 7, 575–578 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01172893

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01172893

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