Pleasant events, unpleasant events, and depression

A review of previous research on P. M. Lewinsohn's (1974) model of depression shows that the causal link between a lack of response-contingent positive reinforcement and subsequent depression remains unsubstantiated. The present study tested this causal relationship through the use of cross-lag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1982-07, Vol.43 (1), p.136-144
Main Authors: Sweeney, Paul D, Shaeffer, David E, Golin, Sanford
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Depression (Emotion)
Depression - etiology
Depression - psychology
Experiences (Events)
Human
Humans
Life Change Events
Models, Psychological
Personality Inventory
Pleasure
Reinforcement
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Research Design - standards
Theory Verification
Time Factors
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Summary:A review of previous research on P. M. Lewinsohn's (1974) model of depression shows that the causal link between a lack of response-contingent positive reinforcement and subsequent depression remains unsubstantiated. The present study tested this causal relationship through the use of cross-lagged panel correlation. 197 undergraduates completed a battery of measures of depression and pleasant events (including the Beck Depression Inventory and the Pleasant Events Schedule, respectively) twice, 1 mo apart. Results reveal that the null hypothesis of spuriousness could not be rejected, suggesting that the relation often found between a lack of pleasant events and depression is probably due to some unmeasured 3rd variable. Results also indicate that there was no causal relation between unpleasant events and depression. Possible 3rd-variable explanations are discussed. (38 ref)
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.43.1.136