Social Learning and Clinical Psychology.

Summary Persons taking actions aimed at self-improvement, in cultural contexts where such actions are counternormative, should show differences in locus of control when contrasted with persons for whom such actions are not counternormative. Two studies tested this hypothesis. The first contrasted locus of control scores between 109 Mexican and 61 American male and female business administration students. The second contrasted locus of control scores between 67 male and female American Liberal Arts students who were economically disadvantaged and 226 such students who were not so disadvantaged. In both Mexican and economically disadvantaged Liberal Arts groups, pursuit of such educational goals was markedly more counternormative for women. In each study, women in the counternormative group showed stronger rejection of control by powerful others or chance than did Ss in a context where such action was not equally counter-normative.

Counternormative Behavior and Locus of Control

While there has been valuable research critical for furthering our understanding of how an individual's social network affects recovery from depression, we need to know more about the interplay of other people 's attributions and their rela1ionships wi th depressed individuals that may impact recovery from the disorder. This research investigated causa l and controllabil ity attributions that others assign to individuals wi th depression by distributing a questionnaire to facu lty and admin istrative staff at Eastem Michigan University to obtain rati ngs of attributions for depression. The level of intimacy within a relationship and t11e severity of depression were related to others ' beliefs about the controllability of depressive symptoms. Exploring these relat ionships may expand our understanding of how and when specific attributions begin and how they change. This infonnation may be useful in developing treatments for depression that not on ly he lp the individual suffering with the d isorder but also others around the individual who are affected. Attributions Others Assign to Depressed Individuals 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abst ract ................ ... ............................................................................................. ... .................. ii List of Tables .......................................... ... ............................................. ........ .... ....... .. .............. v Introduction ................................................................................................. ................... ............ 1 Interpersonal Links .............................................................. ...................... .. ........................ 3 Bi-directional Influences ........... .................................... ....................................................... 4 Effects on Family Members .................................. ........ .. ..... .................. .. .............. ............ .. 5 Expressed En1otion ............................................................................................. ...... ........... 7 Attributions ............. ..... ................... ....... .. ..................... .............. ........... .............................. 9 Relation of Attributions to Expressed Emotion ................................................................. 12 ummary of Current Literature .. ............................................................. ... ........................ 14 Purpose of Current Study ...................................................................... ...... ... ..... .... ................. 16 Method .................................................................................................................... ................. 19 Participants ......................................................................................................................... 19 Measure and Procedure ......................................................... ........................................ ..... 19 Relationship with depressed person ....................... ..... ....... .. ................ ... ........ ............. 20 Controllability ................................................................ .. ............................... ............ . 21 Causality ...................................................................................................................... 21 Results ................. .... ............................................. .. ................... .. .... .. ......... .. ............................ 23 Preliminary Analyses .......................................................................... ... ... ..... .................... 23 Differences between Those Who Knew Someone with Depression and T hose Who Did Not. ........................................................................................................................... .. ........ 25 Relationship ofCausal and Controllabi lity Attributions ................................ ............ ....... 29 At1ributions Others Assign to Depressed Individuals iv Effects ofRelationship Variables on Controllability Attributions ........ .. ....... .. ................. 34 Effects of Other Participant Variables .... ...... ............ .. .......... ... .. ........................................ 34 Discussion .... ...... ....................................................... .... ........ ... ...... .. ............ ............................ 3 7 Conclusions ..... ........ .... ........................ ..... .......................................................... ......... ....... 37 Impl ications for Future Research ................................... ..... ........... ....................... ......... .... 41 Limitations of the Study ....................... ............ ............... .......................................... ......... 42 References .............................................................................. .. ... ... ... ........ ...... .. ...... ................. 44 Appendix A ............................................................................................... ............. ......... ......... 51 Appendix B Supplemental Tables .............. .... ............................ ......................... ................. 55 Appendix C .. .. ..................................... ... ... ... ........................................... ..... ......... .. ................. 58 Attributions Others Assign to Depressed Individuals v

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Attributions others assign to depressed individuals and their relationship to severity of depressive symptoms, amount of contact, and familiarity with depressed individuals

The Counselor with 2020 Vision

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between parental attributions concerning adolescent depression and levels of negative expressed emotion (EE) within the home by breaking down attributional beliefs into two dimensions: the etiology of the disorder and the controllability of the symptoms. This study included 154 parents of adolescents who filled out an online survey. Participants were predominantly female and identified themselves as White/non-Hispanic. Among the teens, each gender was relatively well-represented. Mean age of respondents was 44.7, and mean age of the adolescents was 16.0. Of the entire sample, 101 were identified as the clinical group (having a teen with depression). The questionnaire included a section developed to measure specific attributions related to depression, the Children’s Depression Inventory – Parent Version (Kovacs, 2002), and the Level of Expressed Emotion Scale (Cole & Kazarian, 1988). Results showed that controllability attributions are related to measures of expressed emotion (p < .01), while beliefs about causality had mixed results. It is suggested by this study that beliefs regarding controllability and causal beliefs may be less related than previous researchers suspected, and controllability beliefs may be more salient to theories of EE. Parental Attributions v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv List of Tables vii List of Figures vii

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Parental attributions concerning the causes and controllability of adolescent depression

Holzberg, Knapp, and Turner (1967) and others have emphasized the importance of assessing both the personality and attitudinal dimensions of non-professionals in the mental health field for the purpose of considering their contribution to developing outreach programs, As an estimate of one aspect of personality, the Locus of Control scale, (Rotter, 1966) was utilized, This scale is a 29 item forced choice scale which attempts to differentiate be~.

Thomas W. Miller

Papers

Internal-External Control and Attitudes Toward Mental Illness In Non-professional Mental Health Workers

Peer counseling: a model for the selection and training of students to help students

The Counselor with 2020 Vision