The Gerontologist, Vol 31, Issue 3 397-403, Copyright © 1991 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

The relationship among negative life events, cognitions, and depression within three generations

DR Barnes Nacoste and EH Wise
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599.

This study investigates the extent to which cognitions mediate the relationship between negative life events and depression. College students and their same-sex parents and grandparents (N = 171) completed measures of stressful life events, automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitudes, and depression. There was an interaction between negative life events and cognition for the young adults but not for either of the older groups.