COGNITION AND LIFE EVENTS IN MAJOR DEPRESSION - A TEST OF THE MEDIATION AND INTERACTION HYPOTHESES

This study tested two hypotheses derived from Beck's cognitive model of depression. The mediation hypothesis states that the relations of depression to dysfunctional attitudes and negative life events are mediated by the individual's perceptions of those events. The interaction hypothesis states that the relation of depression to negative events is greater in the context of disfunctional attitudes and/or event perceptions, and, analogously, the relations of depression to dysfunctional attitudes and event perceptions are greater in the context of negative events. We compared 65 unipolar major depression patients with 28 nondepressed schizophrenic patients on measures of dysfunctional attitudes, negative event frequency, and event perceptions. We found that (1) depressed patients reported more dysfunctional attitudes and a greater number of recent negative events, and differed from nondepressed schizophrenic patients on a number of event perceptions; (2) the data supported the mediation hypothesis but not the interaction hypothesis. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.