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Negative Cognitive Biases Predict Subsequent Depression

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Abstract

We administered the Scrambled Sentences Test (SST; R. M. Wenzlaff, 1993), a measure of cognitive processing bias, to a large sample of college students at Time 1. Participants completed a portion of the SST under cognitive load (holding a six-digit number in memory) and a portion without load. At Time 2, 18–28 months later, we conducted diagnostic interviews with a subset of the original participants. As expected, SST scores (proportion of negative solutions) in the cognitive load condition predicted diagnoses of major depression during an 18–28 month follow-up period, even after controlling for self-reported Time 1 depression symptoms and worst lifetime symptoms. No significant prediction of depression was obtained using SST scores from the no-load portion of the task.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

    Stephanie S. Rude, Carmen R. Valdez, Susan Odom & Arshia Ebrahimi

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  1. Stephanie S. Rude
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  2. Carmen R. Valdez
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  3. Susan Odom
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  4. Arshia Ebrahimi
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Correspondence to Stephanie S. Rude.

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Rude, S.S., Valdez, C.R., Odom, S. et al. Negative Cognitive Biases Predict Subsequent Depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research 27, 415–429 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025472413805

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