Putative moderators of the attributional style - depression relationship

The possibility that moderator variables might be found to strengthen the relationship between attributional style for negative life events and depressive symptoms was tested. Four putative moderator variables, including applications of interitem variance, scalability, and construct similarity to scores from the Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire, as well as a novel measure of attributional activity (the Attributional Activity Scale) were entered as interaction terms in a series of multiple regression equations. Dependent measures included the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hopelessness Scale, and a composite measure of hopelessness depression. Predictors of these variables, under the framework of the hopelessness theory of depression, included attributional style, life stress measures, sociotropy-autonomy, and the 4 putative moderators. None of the moderator variables interacted consistently with attributional style to predict depressive symptoms. Explanations for and implications of the findings are discussed.