Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression in Children: An Idiographic, Longitudinal Examination of Inferential Styles

The present study examined the applicability of the hopelessness theory in children in the third grade. Participants included 206 students (111 boys and 95 girls) whose average age was 8.47 (SD = 0.56) years. Participants completed self-report measures assessing inferential styles at baseline, and negative events and depressive symptoms six times over a 7 weeks period. Results showed that depressogenic inferential styles concerning the self interacted with negative events to predict depressive symptoms during the follow-up, and that depressogenic inferential style for causes did not. These findings are believed to help resolve past controversy concerning inferential styles by suggesting that depressogenic inferential styles predict depressive symptoms even at a young age. Methodological and clinical implications from the present study are discussed.