Depressed Clients' Attributions of Responsibility for the Causes of and Solutions to Their Problems

✍ Scribed by Terri N. Wall; Jeffrey A. Hayes

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 351 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1556-6678
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb02563.x

✦ Synopsis

This study examined the attributions made by depressed clients about responsibility for the causes of and solutions to their problems. A total of 160 university counseling center clients completed the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987) and instruments measuring attributions of responsibility, internality, stability, and controllability for their problems. Support was obtained for the hypothesis that depressed clients blame themselves more for causing their problems than do nondepressed clients. However, client attributions of responsibility for solving problems were not affected by level of depressive symptoms. Finally, P. Brickman et al.'s (1982) theory of responsibility attributions was found to be modestly related with B. Weiner's (1985) attribution theory.