Objective: Previous research has shown that biological (e.g., genetic, biochemical) accounts of depression--currently in ascendancy--are linked to the general public's pessimism about the syndrome's prognosis. This research examined for the first time whether people with depressive symptoms would associate biological accounts of depression with…

Objective: Complicated grief (CG) has been proposed as a psychiatric response to bereavement distinct from established mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses. Little is known about the nature of cognitive-affective processing in CG, nor any similarities or differences compared with the processing profiles associated with other emotional disorders.…

The authors examined changes over a 1-year period in mothers' attributions for child behavior and child oppositional behavior among 53 mothers and nonproblem sons and 44 mothers and sons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Boys averaged 8 years of age (SD = 11 months) at Time 1. Families were primarily of European Canadian…

Few studies have examined predictors of weight regain after significant weight losses. This prospective study examined behavioral and psychological predictors of weight regain in 261 successful weight losers who completed an 18-month trial of weight regain prevention that compared a control condition with self-regulation interventions delivered…

Associated different types of "relapse crises" and coping responses with resumption of smoking in previously heavy smokers (N=102) who had achieved initial abstinence. Analyses of posttreatment assessments indicated that any smoking lapse was strongly related to subsequent relapse. Situational characteristics, number of coping responses,…

As a way to better understand the effects of treatment for depression, comparative data on measures of cognition have been compiled previously for adults. Such data should be able to aid the evaluation of cognition and cognitive change, and may provide valuable information for clinicians and researchers alike. In this article, analogous…

Coded the explanations given by violent offenders (N=44) for locus of attribution and excuse versus justification; and examined the explanations for their relationship to situational variables. Results supported the value, interest and replicability of research on common sense explanations in prison settings. (LLL)

Evaluated parents' data in three studies of families with delinquent adolescent. Provided families with different forms of positive versus negative interactional (attributional) context. Taken together, data provide some support for reattribution techniques such as relabeling. Data question ease with which such techniques can be successful.…

Attributions of 40 wives accounted for variance in their marital satisfaction after effects of depression had been taken into account. Second study compared attributions of 20 clinically depressed and maritally distressed wives, 20 nondepressed but distressed wives, and 20 nondepressed, nondistressed wives. Findings suggest that association…

Tested reformulated learned helplessness theory of depression with adolescent inpatients (N=63) diagnosed as depressed, conduct disordered, or both. Adolescents with major depressive diagnosis differed from nondepressed adolescents with significantly lower attributional style scores for positive events. Subjects who reported more severe depression…

Conducted two experiments in which attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder boys underwent double-blind, placebo-controlled medication assessment in summer day-treatment program. Daily, boys assessed attributions for and evaluations of their behavior. Objective measured showed improved behavior with methylphenidate; however, boys tended to…

Investigated whether attributions of opiate addicts would predict abstinence and reactions to abstinence violations. Found that addicts who at admission attributed to themselves greater responsibility for negative outcomes and who attributed relapse episodes to more personally controllable factors were subsequently more likely either to be…

Undergraduates completed Jones's Irrational Beliefs Test and reported impressions of actors portraying couples on videotape. Disagreeing couples were rated as experiencing more negative feelings, sharing less affection, having less stable relationships, and being less compatible than agreeing couples. Observers high in irrational beliefs reported…

Examined whether variability in cognitive and emotional reactions to binges accounts for recurrence of binge eating. Evaluated attributional, cognitive, and affective reactions to 2 successive binges among 50 nonpurging normal-weight female bingers. Analyses suggest that cognitive states evoked by particular events were better predictors of how…

Assessed attributional style of psychoanalysts, behavior therapists, and nontherapists. Results indicated that the clinical task of generating explanations for problematic behavior appeared to be handled differently by psychoanalysts and behavior therapists. Selection of a therapist may be an important factor in determining inferred etiology and…