Ninety-seven undergraduates, 48 of whom had a history of self-reported major
depression, completed measures of mood and cognitive style (e.g. explanatory style,
explanatory flexibility, dysfunctional attitudes) prior to and directly after a negative
mood priming challenge that consisted of listening to sad music and thinking about an
upsetting past event. Eighteen of the previously depressed participants endorsed
baseline levels of depression, explanatory style for negative events, and dysfunctional
attitudes higher than levels reported by never depressed participants or euthymic
participants with a history of depression. All three groups (never depressed
participants, dysphoric participants with a history of depression, euthymic participants
with a history of depression) demonstrated increases in dysphoria and dysfunctional
attitudes in response to the negative mood priming challenge. Dysphoric participants
with a history of depression, but not the other two groups, evidenced modest increases
in explanatory style following the negative mood priming challenge. Finally, euthymic
participants with a history of depression, but not the other two groups, evidenced
drops in explanatory flexibility. Findings from the present study suggest that the
cognitive theories of depression may benefit from examining both cognitive content and
cognitive flexibility when assessing risk for depression.