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Abstract
This study examined the factorial validity of the cognitive triad (view of self, world, and future) hypothesized by A. T. Beck (1997) to be a key depression-related variable. A nonclinical sample (N = 641) of university undergraduates completed the Cognitive Triad Inventory (Cn, Beckham, Leber, Watkins, Boyer, & Cook, 1986). Although an initial confirmatory factor analysis failed to support a threefactor model for the cn drawn from Beck's paradigm, a principal components analysis yielded a single factor which was labeled, "Self-Relevant Negative Attitude." Additional analyses confirmed the viability of the onefactor solution and showed that the Cn was still a reliable scale with 12 as opposed to the original 30 items. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Resume
Les auteurs de cette etude se penchent sur la validite factorielle de la triade cognitive (perception de soi-meme, du monde et de l'avenir) qui, selon l'hypothese etablie par A. T. Beck (1987), est une variable clk dans le contexte de la depression. Un echantillon non clinique (N = 641) d'etudiants du premier cycle au niveau universitaire a rempli l'inventaire des elements de la triade cognitive (CTI) (Beckham, Leber, Watkins, Boyer et Cook, 1986). Bien qu'une premire analyse factorielle confirmatoire nait pu soutenir un module comportant trois facteurs pour le CTI d'aprs le paradigme de Beck, une analyse des composantes principales a mis en relief un seul facteur appele l'attitude negative auto-pertinente . D'autres analyses confirment la vahdite de cette solution unifactorielle et denontrent que le CTI demeure une echelle fiable avec 12 elements plutot que les 30 originaux. Les auteurs abordent les implications theoriques et pratiques de la solution proposee.
The central tenet of Beck's (1987) highly influential cognitive theory of depression holds that depressed relative to nondepressed persons think more negatively about themselves, their world, and their future. This constellation of negative beliefs (e.g., "I am worthless, everyone hates me, and nothing will ever go well for me") is called the cognitive triad of depression (Beck,1970, 1987; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery,1979, pp. 11-12). The dimensions of the triad have been empirically linked to depression in numerous studies (for reviews, see Haaga, Dyck, & Ernst,1991; Willner,1984).
Although much research evidence supports an association between the triad and depression, the conceptual distinctiveness of the triad's...