title: 'Weakest Link' as a Cognitive Vulnerability Within the Hopelessness Theory of Depression in Chinese University Students.
abstract: The current study tested the cognitive vulnerability-stress component of hopelessness theory using a 'weakest link' approach (e.g. an individual is as cognitively vulnerable to depression as his or her most depressogenic attributional style makes him or her) in a sample of Chinese university students. Participants included 520 students in Changsha. During an initial assessment, participants completed measures assessing weakest link, depressive symptoms and occurrence of negative events once a month for 6 months. Results from hierarchical linear modelling analyses showed that higher levels of weakest link scores were associated with greater increases in depressive symptoms following the occurrence of negative events. Higher weakest link level was associated with greater increases in depressive symptoms over time. These results provide support for the applicability of the 'weakest link' approach to the hopelessness theory to Chinese university students.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yini
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lixia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Randy P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Chad M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McWhinnie
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Research Center, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.|Hunan Province Technology, Institute of Psychiatry, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Shuqiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D065026:Hope; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011582:Psychological Theory; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cognitive vulnerability; depression; hopelessness; stress; weakest link