Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK.
Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2012 Oct;26(5):411-9. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2012.02.004. Epub 2012 Apr 11.
The aim of this study was to test whether nonverbal cognitive ability buffers the effect of life stress (number of adverse life events in the last year) on diatheses for depression. It was expected that, as problem-solving aptitude, nonverbal cognitive ability would moderate the effect of life stress on those diatheses (such as dysfunctional attitudes) that are depressogenic because they represent deficits in information-processing or problem-solving skills, but not on diatheses (such as hopelessness) that are depressogenic because they represent deficits in motivation or effort to apply problem-solving skills. The sample included 558 10- to 19-year-olds from a state secondary school in London. Nonverbal cognitive ability was negatively associated with both dysfunctional attitudes and hopelessness. As expected, nonverbal cognitive ability moderated the association between life adversity and dysfunctional attitudes. However, hopelessness was not related to life stress, and therefore, there was no life stress effect for nonverbal cognitive ability to moderate. This study adds to knowledge about the association between problem-solving ability and depressogenic diatheses. By identifying life stress as a risk factor for dysfunctional attitudes but not hopelessness, it highlights the importance of considering outcome specificity in models predicting adolescent outcomes from adverse life events. Importantly for practice, it suggests that an emphasis on recent life adversity will likely underestimate the true level of hopelessness among adolescents.
这项研究的目的是测试非言语认知能力是否能缓冲生活压力（过去一年中发生的不良生活事件的数量）对抑郁素质的影响。人们期望，就解决问题的能力而言，非言语认知能力会调节生活压力对那些易导致抑郁的素质（如功能失调的态度）的影响，因为这些素质代表了信息处理或解决问题技能的缺陷，但不会调节那些易导致抑郁的素质（如绝望）的影响，因为这些素质代表了动机或应用解决问题技能的努力的缺陷。该样本包括来自伦敦一所州立中学的 558 名 10 至 19 岁的青少年。非言语认知能力与功能失调的态度和绝望都呈负相关。正如预期的那样，非言语认知能力调节了生活逆境与功能失调态度之间的关系。然而，绝望与生活压力无关，因此，非言语认知能力没有生活压力的调节作用。这项研究增加了关于解决问题能力与易导致抑郁的素质之间关系的知识。通过确定生活压力是导致功能失调态度而不是绝望的一个风险因素，它突出了在预测不良生活事件对青少年结果的模型中考虑结果特异性的重要性。对实践很重要的是，这表明强调最近的生活逆境可能会低估青少年中真正的绝望程度。
