Perceived Paternal Style and Its Relationship to the Child's Explanatory Style and Depression

Seligman' (1974) theory of learned helplessness and the reformulated hopelessness depression model (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) suggest that a learned sense of lack of control can lead to a pessimistic explanatory style and subsequently depression. The current study used a retrospective cross-sectional design to investigate whether issues of parental control and affection in the early family environment are associated with the individual's explanatory style and history of depression in adulthood. The participants,158 undergraduate students, completed self-report measures to assess their level of depressive symptoms, perception of their parents' behavior, and negative stressful events. Perception of a high level of paternal psychological control was associated with a pessimistic explanatory style in the child. Both pessimistic explanatory style and high levels of negative stressful events were related to more depressive symptoms. The present study did not support the reformulated hopelessness depression model. Only the main effects of explanatory style and negative stressful events were significant in predicting depressive symptoms. The proposed interaction of explanatory style and negative stressful events did not account for significant variance in depressive symptoms. The findings of the current study suggest that there may be a connection between psychological control by the father and the child's pessimistic explanatory style. Additionally, the failure of the current study and others to replicate the interaction of explanatory style and negative stressful events in predicting depression may suggest the need for standardized measures specific to the study of hopelessness depression.