A test of the cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression in children: academic stressors, attributional style, perceived competence, and control.

The cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression was tested in a sample of 439 children in grades 5 and 6. Attributional style and cognitions about academic competence and control over achievement were assessed before the occurrence of a potentially stressful event--receiving unacceptable grades on a report card. Depressive symptoms were assessed 1 week before the event, the morning after, and 5 days later. Replicating G. I. Metalsky, L. J. Halberstadt, and L. Y. Abramson (1987), stressor level and negative cognitions predicted depressive symptoms the morning after the event, controlling for initial symptom levels. Depressive symptoms 5 days later were predicted by the interactions of negative cognitions with stressors, supporting a cognitive diathesis-stress model. Students who reported a negative explanatory style or lack of academic control and competence expressed more distress after receiving unacceptable grades than did students without such cognitions.