Explanatory Flexibility and Negative Life Events Interact to Predict Depression Symptoms

This study examined how explanatory flexibility and explanatory style, two indices derived from the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), were related to each other and to symptoms of depression. At Time 1, seventy–three college students completed the ASQ and a self–report measure of depression, and at Time 2, approximately eight weeks later, completed the depression measure once again as well as a self–report measure of negative life events. Explanatory flexibility demonstrated relative independence from explanatory style. Additionally, explanatory flexibility, but not explanatory style, interacted with negative life events to predict change in depression symptoms such that rigidity was associated with higher levels of depression in the face of negative life events. These findings add to research suggesting that explanatory flexibility is distinct from, but related to, explanatory style and that both constructs add to our understanding of depression.