The Relationship Between Attributional Style for Negative Outcomes and Depression: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis reviewed 86 studies, 244 effect sizes, and 5,1407 participants in the past 20 years, to examine the relationship between attributional style—involving internal, stable, global, and composite causes for negative outcomes—and depression. We found overwhelming support for this relationship; further, we found that it was moderated by age and gender, with only adults having a significant correlation between global causes and depression, adolescents obtaining a stronger correlation between composite causes and depression compared to adults and children, and girls/women having a stronger correlation between all four causes and depression compared to boys/men. Our findings suggest that the effect of individuals' attributional style involving global and composite causes on depression may differ according to age, and that girls/women are more likely to be affected by all four causes. Through this study, adolescent girls emerged as the most vulnerable group, for whom interventions need to be developed and implemented.