The authors compare the attributional models presented in depression and marital literatures by examining simultaneously their prediction of depressive symptoms and marital distress. A total of 150 married couples completed the Attribution Style Questionnaire (ASQ), the Relationship Attribution Measure (RAM), and measures of depression and marital distress. For both husbands and wives, a full model that included paths from depressogenic and distress-maintaining marital attributions to both depressive symptoms and marital distress provided a better fit to the data than a model that omitted paths from distress-maintaining attributions to each outcome. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
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