The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model of depression proposes that causal attributions about negative outcomes play a causal role in reactive depression. This research tested this hypothesis by studying the causal role of attributions in depression in 180 college students. On two occasions separated by 1 month, students were administered a battery of tests that included an attributional style questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. The attributional dimensions of internality, stability, and globality were found to be correlated with depression; when the possible causal role of attributions was tested through the use of cross-lagged panel correlational analysis, the hypothesis that stability and globality attributions for bad outcomes might be causes of depression was supported. There was no support, however, for the hypothesis that internal attributions for bad outcomes are a cause of depression. Evidence was also found that unstable attributions for good outcomes may function as a cause of depression.

The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) holds that depression-prone individuals are characterized by a certain attributional style. Specifically, they are seen as making internal, stable, and global attributions for negative outcomes. One implication of the attributional model tested by the present study, is that depression-prone persons should not evince this attributional style for negative outcomes that occur to others. The data presented here supported this prediction. Depressed subjects made self-attributions for negative outcomes that were significantly more internal, stable, and global than those of nondepressed subjects, while no differences were observed when both groups made attributions for the negative outcomes of a target other. The implications of these results for the attributional model of depression are discussed.

Pediatric primary care offers an opportunity to not only identify children and adolescents with psychosocial problems but also assess and treat their mental health issues. In this article, a program in which primary care clinicians and mental health professionals partner to provide mental health services within the context of a primary care environment is discussed. The program model as well as the roles of the health care providers involved in this collaborative service are described.

A review of previous research on Lewinsohn's model of depression shows that the causal link between a lack of response-contingent positive reinforcement and subsequent depression remains unsubstantiated. The present study was designed to explicitly test this causal relationship through the use of cross-lagged panel correlation. Measures of depression and pleasant events were taken at two different points in time separated by 1 month. The results revealed that the null hypothesis of spuriousness could not be rejected, indicating the relation often found between a lack of pleasant events and depression is probably due to some unmeasured third variable. The results also indicated that there is no causal relation between unpleasant events and depression. In summary, the causal assumptions in Lewinsohn's theory of depression were not supported by the data. Possible third-variable explanations of the data and their implications are discussed.

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