Depressive reactions to failure in a naturalistic setting: a test of the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression.

We tested the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression and an integration of the two by examining whether a stable, global attributional style (attributional diathesis) and low self-esteem interacted with the outcomes students received on a midterm examination to predict their subsequent depressive reactions over the course of 5 days. Students' immediate depressive reactions (on receipt of grades) were predicted solely by the examination outcome, whereas their enduring depressive reactions during the following 4 days were predicted by the Attributional Diathesis x Low Self-Esteem x Failure interaction. The results also indicated that the three-way interaction predicted enduring depressive reactions through the mediating role of hopelessness.