Current mood-state and past depression as predictors of self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes among adolescents

This study investigated the roles of current mood-state and past depression in predicting self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes in a sample of 110 adolescents who were presently non-depressed. First, the authors tested the hypothesis that lower self-esteem and more dysfunctional attitudes would be found among adolescents with more severe past depression (after statistically controlling current mood-state and gender). Second, the authors tested the mood-state hypothesis (Persons, J. B., & Miranda, J. (1992). Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 485–502; Segal, Z. V., & Ingram, R. E. (1994). Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 663–695) which posits that negative cognitive styles are more sensitive to the effects of current mood-state among individuals with more severe past depression. Results suggested that lower self-esteem (but not greater dysfunctional attitudes) is associated with more severe past depressive symptomatology. In contrast to the mood-state hypothesis, we found that adolescents with more severe past depression showed less (rather than greater) congruence between negative affect and both self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes than those with less severe past depression.