The development of depressive attributional style (AS) and its role as a cognitive diathesis for depression were examined in children and adolescents (Grades 2-9). In a 4-wave longitudinal study of 3 overlapping age cohorts, AS, negative life events, and depressive symptoms were evaluated every 12 months. Consistency of children's attributions across situations was moderately high at all ages. The cross-sectional structure of AS changed with age, as stability became a more salient aspect of AS than internality and globality. The structure of AS also changed, becoming more traitlike as children grew older. In longitudinal analyses, evidence of a Cognitive Diathesis x Stress interaction did not emerge until Grades 8 and 9, suggesting that AS may not serve as a diathesis for depression at younger ages. Results suggest that attributional models of depression may require modification before they are applied across developmental levels.

Research on the relation of guilt to psychopathology is highly inconsistent. Some studies suggest that guilt contributes to psychopathology; others suggest that guilt serves a protective role. This review of 23 theory-based definitions of guilt and 25 measures of guilt suggests that a lack of conceptual clarity may be to blame. Measures of guilt do not correspond well to the definitions from which they derive. Many definitions and measures reflect the intrusion of extraneous constructs that could confound guilt research. Furthermore, definitions and measures of guilt change with developmental level. Nevertheless, two broad conceptualizations of guilt emerge. Central to both is a focus on one's action or inactions involving real or imagined moral transgressions. Distinguishing the two conceptualizations is whether or not guilt is inherently adaptive construct, generating remorse, augmenting a sense of responsibility, and motivating reparation. Recommendations for the definition and measurement of guilt are discussed.

(1) Objective to find longitudinal evidence of the effect of targeted peer victimization (TPV) on depressive cognitions as a function of victimization type and gender. (2) Method Prospective relations of physical and relational peer victimization to positive and negative self-cognitions were examined in a one-year, two-wave longitudinal study. Self-reports of cognitions and both peer nomination and self-report measures of peer victimization experiences were obtained from 478 predominantly Caucasian children and young adolescents (grades 3 through 6 at the beginning of the study) evenly split between genders. (3) Results (a) peer victimization predicted increases in negative cognitions and decreases in positive cognitions over time; (b) relational victimization was more consistently related to changes in depressive cognitions than was physical victimization; (c) the prospective relation between victimization and depressive cognitions was stronger for boys than for girls; and (d) when the overlap between relational and physical TPV was statistically controlled, girls experienced more relational TPV than did boys, and boys experienced more physical TPV than did girls. (4) Conclusions Peer victimization, particularly relational TPV, has a significant impact on children’s depressive cognitions. This relation seems particularly true for boys. Implications for future research, clinical work with victimized youth at risk for depression, and school policy to help both victims and bullies are discussed.

In a two-wave, longitudinal study, 221 nonreferred adolescents completed measures of guilt, shame, Behavioral self-blame (BSB), Characterological self-blame (CSB), depressive symptoms measures, and attributional style. Goals were to examine similarities between Tangney's (1996) conceptualization of guilt and shame and Janoff-Bulman's (1979) conceptualization of BSB and CSB in adolescents. Specific aims were (1) to examine the relation of depressive symptoms and depressive cognitions to shame, guilt, CSB, and BSB, (2) to estimate the longitudinal relations between depressive symptoms and measures of guilt, shame, BSB, and CSB, and (3) to assess the convergent and discriminant validity of shame/CSB measures and guilt/BSB measures. Results suggest that shame and CSB converge into a common construct, significantly related to depressive symptoms and cognitions. Convergence of guilt and BSB, however, was limited to particular pairs of measures.One research tradition has focused on the relation of guilt and shame to depression, as well as anger, hostility, substance abuse, eating disorders, low self-efficacy, and poor problem solving (Covert, Tangney, Maddux, & Heleno, 2003;Dearing, Stuewig, & Tangney, 2005;Ferguson, Stegge, Miller, & Olsen, 1999;Luyten, Fontaine, & Corveleyn, 2002;Sanftner, Barlow, Marschall, & Tangney, 1995;Tangney, Burggraf, & Wagner, 1995;Woien, Ernst, Patock-Peckham, & Nagoshi, 2003). Another research tradition has studied the relation of behavioral and characterological self-blame to depression as well as loneliness, isolation, uncontrollability, helplessness, and stressful life events (Anderson, Horowitz, & French, 1983;Cole, Peeke, & Ingold, 1996;Janoff-Bulman, 1979;Peterson, 1979;Peterson, Schwartz, & Seligman, 1981;Stoltz & Galassi, 1989).Correspondences concerning this article should be addressed to David A. Cole, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University 0552 GPC, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203. david.cole@vanderbilt.edu.. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Soc Clin Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 November 20. Published in final edited form as:J Soc Clin Psychol. 2008 ; 27(8): 809-842. doi:10.1521/jscp.2008. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptDespite noteworthy conceptual similarities between these two pairs of constructs, almost no one has examined them conjointly (cf. Lutwak, Panish, & Ferrari, 2003). Linking these two traditions could have implications for theory and research pertaining to a very wide range of psychological and mental health outcomes. The overarching goal of the current study is to examine the relation of the guilt/shame constructs and the behavioral/characterological selfblame constructs to each other, to depression, and to depression-related cognitions, potentially paving the way for a clearer unification of these two research traditions. GUILT AND SHAMEIn this paper, we adhere to definitions of guilt and shame first articulated by Lewis (1971) and subsequently ela...

Cohen and Wills (Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A., 1985, Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357) described two broad models whereby social support could mitigate the deleterious effects of stress on health: a main effect model and stress-buffering model. A specific application of these models was tested in a three-wave, multimethod study of 1888 children to assess ways parental support (social support) mitigates the effects of peer victimization (stress) on children’s depressive symptoms and depression-related cognitions (health-related outcomes). Results revealed that (a) both supportive parenting and peer victimization had main effects on depressive symptoms and cognitions; (b) supportive parenting and peer victimization did not interact in the prediction of depressive thoughts and symptoms; (c) these results generalized across age and gender; and (d) increases in depressive symptoms were related to later reduction of supportive parenting and later increase in peer victimization. Although supportive parenting did not moderate the adverse outcomes associated with peer victimization, results show that its main effect can counterbalance or offset these effects to some degree. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.