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The temporal sequence of depressive symptoms, peer victimization, and self-esteem across adolescence: Evidence for an integrated self-perception driven model

“…That is, the "way an individual structures his experiences [whether good or bad] determines his mood" (Beck, 1970, p. 261). In line with this, researchers have shown that depressive (negative) attributional style, whereby depressed individuals tend to attribute adverse outcomes to internal causes (self-blame) and good outcomes to external causes (Seligman, Abramson, Semmel, & von Baeyer, 1979), predicts future depression (Southall & Roberts, 2002;Tennen et al, 1987). Not only can poor self-esteem account for negative attributional style (even more so than concurrent depressive symptoms), but researchers have shown that it can mediate the associations between negative attributional style and depression (Tennen et al, 1987), suggesting that self-esteem (affective dimension of self-perception) is both maintaining depressogenic cognitions and attributional style and controlling their effect on internalizing symptoms.…”

How Disorder-Specific are Depressive Attributions? A Comparison of Individuals with Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Healthy Controls

“…According to the reformulated model of learned helplessness and depression (Abramson et al 1978), depressed individuals tend to attribute negative events to internal (“it is due to me”), stable (“it is permanent”) and global (“it will affect other areas of my life”) causes, and positive events to external (“it is not due to me”), unstable (“it is temporary”), and specific (“it will only affect this area of my life”) causes (see Sweeney et al 1986, for a review). There is empirical evidence that attributional style is an important factor in the development and maintenance of depression (e.g., Ball et al 2008; Elwood et al 2009a, b; Southall and Roberts 2002). The hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson et al 1988; Alloy et al 1988) further specifies that individuals who make stable and global attributions following a negative event may experience hopelessness and, in turn, develop depression.…”

Linking Stressful Experiences and Psychological Problems: The Role of Self-Esteem

“…Since few studies have examined the relationship with EXT problems in adolescence, this finding broadens our understanding of EXT problems and their relation to stressful experiences and self-esteem. Importantly, the moderation found might point to a buffering effect of self-esteem, as was first proposed by Brown and Harris (1978) in the context of depression and later studied by other researchers (e.g., Miller, Kreitman, Ingham, & Sashidharan, 1989;Moksnes et al, 2010;Southall & Roberts, 2002) in the broader context of INT problems. The present findings move beyond this previous work by showing that self-esteem also plays a role in explaining individual differences in the relationship between stressful experiences and EXT problems.…”

“…Ever since the proposition of a psychosocial model by Brown and Harris (1978) and the integrated model by Metalsky and colleagues (1993), several studies have examined the role of self-esteem in the link between stressful experiences and adult psychopathology. In many cases, researchers found evidence for the role of self-esteem as a moderator in the relation between stressful experiences and psychological problems (Abela, Webb, Wagner, Ho, & Adams, 2006;Brown, Andrews, Bifulco, & Veiel, 1990;Moksnes, Moljord, Espnes, & Byrne, 2010;Southall & Roberts, 2002). For example, in a community sample of adults with a history of major depression, Abela and colleagues (2006) found that high self-esteem acted as a buffer against depressive symptoms following the occurrence of negative experiences.…”