Predictors of attributional style change in children Article

Gibb, BE, Alloy, LB, Walshaw, PD et al. (2006). Predictors of attributional style change in children . JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, 34(3), 425-439. 10.1007/s10802-006-9022-2

cited authors

  • Gibb, BE; Alloy, LB; Walshaw, PD; Comer, JS; Shen, GHC; Villari, AG

authors

abstract

  • A number of studies have supported the hypothesis that negative attributional styles may confer vulnerability to the development of depression. The goal of this study was to explore factors that may contribute to the development of negative attributional styles in children. As hypothesized, elevated levels of depressive symptoms and hopelessness at the initial assessment predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the 6-month follow-up period. In addition, elevated levels of verbal victimization occurring between the 2 assessments, as well as that occurring in the 6 months preceding the initial assessment, prospectively predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the follow-up. Further, initial depressive symptoms and verbal victimization during the follow-up continued to significantly predict attributional style change even when the overlap among the predictors was statistically controlled. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, neither parent-reported levels of overall negative life events nor parents' attributions for their children's events predicted changes in children's attributional styles. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

publication date

  • June 1, 2006

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 425

end page

  • 439

volume

  • 34

issue

  • 3