Enhancing attributional style and positive life events predict increased hopefulness among depressed psychiatric inpatients

A prospective study was conducted to investigate whether enhancing attributional style and positive life events are associated with recovery from depression through the mediation of increased hopefulness, as predicted by the Needles and Abramson (1990) model of recovery from depression. The Attributional Style Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, Uplifts Scale, and Revised Hassles Scale were administered to 32 depressed psychiatric inpatients shortly after admission and readministered a mean of 10 days later. The results indicated that the combined effects of enhancing attributional style and positive life events predicted decreases in hopelessness, which were in turn associated with decreases in depression symptom levels. By contrast, neither the combined effects of depressotypic attributional style and life events nor the combined effects of dysfunctional attitudes and life events was associated with decreases in hopelessness or depression symptom levels.