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A RESPONSE TO HEIM AND SNYDER
Author(s) -
Ettinger Debra,
Commisso Joseph,
Fuls Susan,
Macri Donna,
Soucar Emil
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1992.tb00942.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , distress , marital therapy , depression (economics) , set (abstract data type) , reductionism , social psychology , causality (physics) , power (physics) , clinical psychology , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , economics , macroeconomics , programming language
This article comments on a recent study by Heim and Snyder (1991) which explores the interaction between marital distress and spouses' attributions in predicting depression. We suggest taht the attributional theory model may set up a reductionistic research stance that potentially separates what depressed people think from their circumstances and history, thus implying a linear relationship between thinking, depression, and, in this case, marital distress. We also question whether the authors' focus on women's attributional processes, combined with their reliance on a potentially unidimensional model of depression, might inadvertently support preexisting power imbalances in the marital relationship. Finally, we address research design issues regarding measurement, sampling, and statistical concerns.