A causal model of hopelessness depression in Chinese undergraduate students

The diathesis-stress component hypothesis and the mediational role of hopelessness proposed by the hopelessness theory of depression were tested using data from a 16-week longitudinal study of Chinese university undergraduates. Participants (N = 240) completed self-report measures assessing attributional style, negative life events, hopelessness, and hopelessness depression symptoms at 3 time points. The diathesis-stress hypothesis was tested using the latent growth curve model and results showed that as postulated in the hopelessness theory, depressogenic attributional style predicted hopelessness depression following the occurrence of negative life events. Specifically, hopelessness played a partial mediating role in the etiological chain of hopelessness depression.