Attributional style and depression in pregnant teenagers

Abstract

Objective: Study 1 evaluated whether pregnancy is a stressful life event for teenagers and is associated with depression for teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style but not for those with an optimistic attributional style. Study 2 replicated unexpected findings from study 1. Study 3 evaluated whether pregnant teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style will be more depressed after childbirth than optimistic pregnant teenagers.

Method: In study 1, 122 pregnant and 96 nonpregnant teenagers completed questionnaires assessing depression and attributional style. In study 2, 43 pregnant teenagers and 49 nonpregnant teenagers completed the same questionnaires. In study 3, subjects from studies 1 and 2 were contacted by mail and asked to complete the same questionnaires; 63 (38%) did so.

Results: In studies 1 and 2, pregnant teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style were less depressed than those with an optimistic attributional style and the nonpregnant group. In study 3, pessimistic teenagers experienced a higher level of depression than nonpessimistic adolescents following childbirth.

Conclusions: Pregnancy may serve to protect pessimistic teenagers from experiencing depression. The subsequent demands of motherhood may remove any protection from depression afforded by the pregnancy. The experience of depression being relieved by another pregnancy may be a previously unidentified risk factor for repeated pregnancies in teenagers.

PIP: The association between attributional style and depression was explored in three studies of pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents recruited from clinics at the University of Texas (Galveston) Medical Branch. The first study examined the hypothesis that the stress of pregnancy would trigger depression in teenagers with a negative (pessimistic) attributional style but not in those with a positive (optimistic) attributional style. The Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory were administered to 122 pregnant and 96 nonpregnant adolescents 13-18 years old. Unexpectedly, both pregnant and nonpregnant teens with a pessimistic attributional style were less depressed than their counterparts with an optimistic style. The second study repeated the methodology of the first study in a sample of 43 pregnant and 49 nonpregnant teens and obtained the same result. The third study investigated the hypothesis that pregnant teens with a negative attributional style would be more depressed than optimistic pregnant teens after the birth of their infant. 63 of the pregnant teens who participated in the first two studies were enrolled. As expected, pessimistic teens experienced a higher level of depression than optimistic teens after childbirth. This finding suggests that, while pregnancy may temporarily mask depression in teenagers with a negative attributional style, the demands of motherhood remove this protection. The drive to escape depression may be a previously unidentified risk factor for repeat adolescent pregnancy.