Communality and specificity of dysfunctional cognitions, and the prediction of four different forms of psychological maladjustment

The present research provided a simultaneous, broad-based examination of how different types of dysfunctional cognitions may relate to several domains of psychological maladjustment, namely, depression, anxiety, Type A, and bulimia. Consistent evidence was obtained across two studies for the communality of certain types of dysfunctional cognitions. In particular, excessive concerns regarding performance evaluation were found to characterize several of these maladjustment domains. Strong empirical support was also obtained in both studies for the specificity of other types of dysfunctional cognitions. Exclusive to the depression domain, for example, were dysfunctional cognitions pertaining to failure and loss. Anxiety was marked by a specific focus on interpersonal evaluative concerns, whereas higher levels of Type A were specifically associated with self-oriented perfectionism. Finally, bulimia was characterized by content-specificity in terms of dysfunctional cognitions concerning weight-control and appearance. Additional evidence for the important role of content-specific dysfunctional cognitions was obtained in a series of longitudinal analyses reported in study 2. Using very stringent predictive criteria, it was found that the hypothesized content-specific dysfunctional cognitions for three of the four domains (i.e. depression, anxiety, and Type A) were significant predictors of future maladjustment in these domains, even after taking into account initial levels of maladjustment. These results were then discussed in terms of the links between various types of dysfunctional cognitions and the manifestation of both common and specific features of depression, anxiety, Type A, and bulimia.