Assessment of Depressive Attributions: Validation of a New Measure in Individuals with Depression, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Non-clinical Subjects

This research work reviews the theoretical background of attributional styles and provides a comprehensive account of existing assessment methods. It offers a critique of the Attributional Style Questionnaire, one of the best known assessment tools in this field, based on quantitative as well as qualitative data gathered from clinical and non-clinical samples. Furthermore, the author describes the process of validation of the Depressive Attributions Questionnaire in individuals with Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and non-clinical subjects. This new and easy to use measure has clinical and research potential as it offers specificity, predictive power, and correlates with other relevant factors, such as symptom severity, frequency of rumination, frequency and intensity of traumatic experiences, and post-traumatic cognitions. Finally, the author highlights possible future directions for the development of methods to assess attributions.