Teasing Apart the Effects of Cognition, Stress, and Depression on Health

OBJECTIVE: To test whether cognitive vulnerability could explain the link between depression and poor health. METHODS: A 4-week longitudinal design was used to examine health problems (eg, diabetes), health behaviors (eg, smoking), depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, and life stress in a sample of 154 undergraduates. RESULTS: Contrary to hypotheses, depressive symptoms, but not cognitive vulnerability, were associated with health problems. However, as predicted, cognitive vulnerability was a better predictor of prospective changes in specific health behaviors than were depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, life stress was the best predictor of prospective changes in specific health behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These results are among the first to show that the factors associated with health problems are different than those associated with specific health behaviors.