Attribution theory holds that the affective reaction and mood that people develop in response to a situation is to a great degree dependent on what they perceive has caused the situation. Self-blame is a specific result of certain attributions and often leads to depression. The main purpose of this study is to determine if a relationship exists between a specific, character-related linguistic bias and an increased risk for, and an elevated level of, depression. This is accomplished by comparing subjects' test results in a measure of linguistic bias with the Beck Depression Inventory score and with a measurement of attributional style. Further, by drawing on the philosophical basis of cognitive therapeutic practices, it is argued that self-blame is only related to depression if it is characterological in nature and that such characterological self-blame is implicit in the linguistic style of the individual. Elevated usage of the verb "to be" in evaluating a negative life event was found to correlate with an above-average level of the somatic symptoms of depression. Subjects who preferred "to be" sentences also made more attributions of stability in regard to the hypothetical negative scenarios. Very little correlation was obtained between depression levels and depressogenic attributions. It is argued that while the usage of specific words and the application of depressogenic attributions are confounded, the use of two separate questionnaires both related to a common vignette permits some separation. While linguistic bias does not explain the development of depression, it is at least as good a correlate as attributional style. Depressogenic biases in word usage may be the conscious expression of attributional style. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

In the United States, there is a high incidence of recidivism among juvenile offenders with mental health disorders. This is a critical social issue facing the public and the Department of Juvenile Justice Administration today. However, research is not clear on the role of psychological factors in recidivism frequency and survival time. The purpose of this study was to examine whether hopelessness depression, as measured by suicidal-ideation, depression-anxiety, anger-irritation, and alcohol-drug use, and offense type, were predictors of recidivism frequency and survival time when controlling for age, gender, and race. The total sample consisted of archival data from 404 juvenile offenders between the ages 13 and 19, who were detainees in the Juvenile Detention facility between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012. Data consisted of scores from the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument, which is part of the standard intake screening at time of booking. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated a collective significant predictive relationship between age, gender, race, suicidal-ideation, depression-anxiety, anger-irritation, alcohol-drug-use, and recidivism frequency and survival time. Posthoc analyses of variance indicated statistically significant differences in alcohol-drug-use and anger-irritation levels between races. However, the multiple linear regression indicated that suicidal-ideation and depression-anxiety did not significantly predict either recidivism frequency or survival time. Results could enable juvenile justice staff to detect hopelessness depression among juvenile reoffenders at an earlier stage and offer better treatment aimed at reducing future occurrences of youth recidivism, thereby benefitting individuals as well as society.