Page 1 of 20 http://spider.apa.org/ftdocs/abn/1999/november/abn1084567.html 9/15/2000 Cognitive Styles and Life Events Interact to Predict Bipolar and Unipolar Symptomatology Noreen A. Reilly-Harrington Department of Psychiatry Lauren B. Alloy Department of Psychology Temple University David M. Fresco Department of Psychology Temple University Wayne G. Whitehouse Department of Psychology Temple University ABSTRACT This study examined the interaction of cognitive style (as assessed self-report and information-processing battery) and stressful life events in predicting the clinician-rated depressive and manic symptomatology of participants with Research Diagnostic Criteria lifetime diagnoses of bipolar disorder ( n = 49), unipolar depression ( n = 97), or no lifetime diagnosis ( n = 23). Bipolar and unipolar participants' attributional styles, dysfunctional attitudes, and negative self-referent information processing as assessed at Time 1 interacted significantly with the number of negative life events that occurred between Times 1 and 2 to predict increases in depressive symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Within the bipolar group, participants' Time 1 attributional styles and dysfunctional attitudes interacted significantly, and their self-referent information processing interacted marginally, with intervening life events to predict increases in manic symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. These findings provide support for the applicability of cognitive vulnerability—stress theories of depression to bipolar spectrum disorders. Guest Editors' Note. Jacqueline B. Persons served as the action editor for this article.–DJM/LBA The research reported in this article was supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Data analyses and manuscript preparation were supported by National Institute for Mental Health Grants 48216 and 52617. This article is based on a dissertation submitted to Temple University by Noreen A. Reilly-Harrington under the direction of Lauren B. Alloy. We thank the other members of the dissertation committee, Donald Hantula, Richard Heimberg, Philip Kendall, Cory Newman, and Gary Sachs, for their valuable feedback and assistance. We also express our appreciation to the following individuals who served as interviewers for the study or provided technical assistance: Caroline Clements, Judith Cronholm, Shirley Hartlage, Kelly Kelly, Linda Koenig, Greg Kolden, Gary Marshall, Robert Musson, Sharon Siegel Fedderly, Carolyn Tal, and Jeanne Zechmeister. Correspondence may be addressed to Noreen A. Reilly-Harrington, Harvard Bipolar Research Program, 50 Staniford Street, Suite 580, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114-3117. Electronic mail may be sent to nhreilly@partners.org Received: August 12, 1998 Revised: March 8, 1999 Accepted: March 8, 1999 Journal of Abnormal Psychology © 1999 by the American Psychological Association November 1999 Vol. 108, No. 4, 567 -578 For personal use only--not for distribution.