Attributional Style and Social-Skill Deficits as Predictors of Dysphoric States and Response to Treatment

Abstract

It is hypothesized that there might be two subtypes of dysphoria. Comparison of the characteristic deficits of attributional styles and social skills of adolescent dysphorics differentiated them into two subtypes. This suggested that matched treatments of the two subtypes of dysphoria might be more effective than non-matched treatments. As is predicted by the hopelessness theory of depression (Alloy, Abramson, Metalsky, & Hartlage, 1988), dysphorics characterized by the depressogenic attributional style and adequate social skills reported significantly greater numbers of negative life-events than dysphorics characterized by social-skill deficits and healthy attributional style. Treatments matched to dysphoria subtypes were more effective than non-matched treatments. The authors suggest that similar tests of dysphorics over several years might indicate that some dysphoric states intensify and that matched treatments would abort potentially severe depressions.

Development and validation of an attributional style questionnaire for adolescents.

“…Joiner and Metalsky (1999) argued that the low reliability of the Internality dimension seems to be a construct-wise, rather than a measurement-wise, problem, and it reveals a lack of consistency in the internal attributions per se. Likewise, several researchers have suggested that the attributional style construct could be overlooking an important attributional dimension: the controllability of the attributed cause (Anderson, Jennings, & Arnoult, 1988; Brown & Siegel, 1988; Hewitt, Foxcroft, & MacDonald, 2004; Peterson, 1991; Rodríguez-Naranjo, Godoy, & Esteve, 2001; Soria et al, 2004; Stoltz & Galassi, 1989). In fact, Brown and Siegel (1988) reported that when individuals attribute important negative life events to controllable causes, their internal attributions predict less severe depression.…”