Abstract
We examined the relative efficacy of disease-specific and disease-unrelated appraisals of helplessness in predicting depression in rheumatoid arthritis over the course of 1 year. Forty-two individuals from an outpatient rheumatology clinic completed measures of depression, disease-unrelated causal attributions, arthritis-specific helplessness, pain, and disability. Results revealed that disease-unrelated causal attributions, assessed at Time 1 contributed significant variance to depression assessed at Time 2, after controlling for initial levels of depression and concurrent disease status variables. Arthritis-specific helplessness did not relate to subsequent levels of depression. In general, our findings indicated that causal attributions for disease-unrelated events were more reliable predictors of depression in rheumatoid arthritis than was arthritis-specific helplessness. Discussion of the implications of our findings for future research follows from the results.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., and Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 87(1): 49–74.
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., and Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychol. Rev. 96(2): 358–372.
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed., APA, Washington, DC.
Arnett, F., Edworthy, S., Bloch, D., McShane, D., Fries, J., Cooper, N., Healy, L., Kaplan, S., Liang, M., Luthra, H., Medsger, T., Jr., Mitchell, D., Neustadt, D., Pinals, R., Schaller, J., Sharp, J., Wilder, R., and Hunder, G. (1988). The American Rheumatism Association 1987 revised criteria for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis. Arth. Rheum. 31: 315–324.
Brown, J. D., and Siegel, J. M. (1988). Attributions for negative life events and depression: The role of perceived control. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 54(2): 316–322.
Callahan, L. F., Brooks, R. H., and Pincus, T. (1988). Further analysis of learned helplessness in rheumatoid arthritis using a Rheumatology Attitudes Index. J. Rheumatol. 15: 418–426.
Chaney, J. M., Mullins, L. L., Uretsky, D. L., Doppler, M. J., Palmer, W. R., Wees, S. J., Klein, H. S., Doud, D. K., and Reiss, M. J. (1996). Attributional style and depression in rheumatoid arthritis: The moderating role of perceived illness control. Rehab. Psychol. 3: 205–223.
Cronbach, L. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 16: 297–334.
DeVellis, B. M., and Blalock, S. J. (1992). Illness attributions and hopelessness depression: The role of hopelessness expectancy. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 101: 257–264.
Frank, R. G., Beck, N. C., Parker, J. C., Kashani, J. H., Elliott, T. R., Haut, A. E., Smith, E., Atwood, C., Brownlee-Duffeck, M., and Kay, D. R. (1988). Depression in rheumatoid arthritis. J. Rheumatol. 15: 920–925.
Frank, R. G., Chaney, J. M., Clay, D. L., and Kay, D. R. (1991). Depression in rheumatoid arthritis: A re-evaluation. Rehab. Psychol. 36: 219–230.
Frank, R. G., Chaney, J. M., Clay, D. L., Shutty, M. S., Beck, N. C., Kay, D. R., Elliott, T. R., and Grambling, S. (1992). Dysphoria: A major symptom factor in persons with disability or chronic illness. Psychiatry Res. 3: 231–241.
Fries, J. F., Spitz, P., Kraines, R. G., and Holman, H. R. (1980). Measurement of patient outcome in arthritis. Arth. Rheum. 23(2): 137–145.
Gerber, L. (1988). Outcome measures in rheumatic disease. In Hicks, J., Nichols, J., and Sweezy, R. (eds.), Handbook of Rehabilitative Rheumatology, American Rheumatism Association, Atlanta, GA, pp. 9–19.
Hollingshead, A. (1957). Two Factor Index of Social Position, Author, New Haven, CT.
Nicassio, P., Wallston, K., Callahan, L., Herbert, M., and Pincus, T. (1985). The measurement of helplessness in rheumatoid arthritis: The development of the Arthritis Helplessness Index. J. Rheumatol. 12: 462–467.
Peterson, C., and Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as risk factors for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychol. Rev. 91: 347–374.
Peterson, C., Semmel, A., von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L., Metalsky, G., and Seligman, M. (1982). The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cognit. Ther. Res. 6: 287–300.
Pincus, T., Summey, J., Soraci, S., Wallston, K., and Hummon, N. (1983). Assessment of patient satisfaction in activities of daily living using a modified Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire. Arth. Rheum. 26: 1346–1353.
Schiaffino, K., and Revenson, T. (1992). The role of perceived self-efficacy, perceived control, and causal attributions in adaptation to rheumatoid arthritis: Distinguishing mediator from moderator effects. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 18(6): 709–718.
Schiaffino, K., and Revenson, T. (1995). Why me? The persistence of negative appraisals over the course of illness. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 25: 601–619.
Smith, C., Wallston, K., and Dwyer, K. (1995). On babies and bathwater: Disease impact and negative affectivity in the self-report of persons with rheumatoid arthritis. Health Psychol. 14: 64–73.
Smith, T. W., Peck, J. R., Milano, R. A., and Ward, J. R. (1988). Cognitive distortion in rheumatoid arthritis: Relation to depression and disability. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 56(3): 412–416.
Smith, T., Peck, J., and Ward, J. (1990). Helplessness and depression in rheumatoid arthritis. Health Psychol. 9: 377–389.
Smith, T., Christensen, A., Peck, J., and Ward, J. (1994). Cognitive distortion, helplessness, and depressed mood in rheumatoid arthritis: A four-year longitudinal analysis. Health Psychol. 13: 213–217.
Stein, M., Wallston, K., and Nicassio, P. (1988a). Factor structure of the Arthritis Helplessness Index. J. Rheumatol. 15: 427–432.
Stein, M. J., Wallston, K. A., Nicassio, P. M., and Castner, N. M. (1988b). Correlates of a clinical classification schema for the arthritis helplessness subscale. Arth. Rheum. 31(7): 876–881.
Sweeney, P. D., Anderson, K., and Bailey, S. (1986). Attributional style in depression: A meta-analytic review. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 50: 974–991.
Wilder, R. (1993). Rheumatoid arthritis. In Schumacher, H. R., Jr., Klippel, J. H., and Koopman, W. J. (eds.), Primer on the Rheumatic Diseases: Tenth Edition, Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, GA, pp. 86–89.
Zimmerman, M., and Coryell, W. (1987). The Inventory to Diagnose Depression: A self-report scale to diagnose major depressive disorder. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 55: 55–59.
Zimmerman, M., and Coryell, W. (1988). The validity of a self-report questionnaire for diagnosing major depressive disorder. Arch. Dis. Unrelated Psychiatry 45: 738–740.
Zimmerman, M., and Coryell, W. (1994). Screening for major depressive disorder in the community: A comparison of measures. Psychol. Assess. 6: 71–74.
Zimmerman, M., Coryell, W., Wilson, S., and Corenthal, C. (1986). Evaluation of symptoms of major depressive disorder: Self-report vs. clinician ratings. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 174: 150–153.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hommel, K.A., Chaney, J.M., Mullins, L.L. et al. Relative Contributions of Attributional Style and Arthritis Helplessness to Depression in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Longitudinal Investigation. International Journal of Rehabilitation and Health 4, 59–67 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022999704062
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022999704062