Cognitive distortions as mediators between life stress and depression in adolescents.

This research examined the possibility that cognitive distortions mediate between life stress and depression in an adolescent population. Measures of cognitive distortion, life stress, and depressive tendencies were administered to 103 ninth- to twelfth-grade high school students. It was predicted that measures of cognitive distortion would be better predictors of depressive tendencies than measures of life stress. It was also predicted that cognitive distortions would affect the perceived stressfulness of life events. In addition, it was predicted that three measures of cognitive distortion would be correlated and that the measure of immediate negative thinking would be a better predictor of depressive tendencies than the measures of dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs. Findings from correlation and regression analyses were consistent with the predictions.