The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Control or Defense? Depression and the Sense of Control over Good and Bad Outcomes
Abstract
Defense theory holds that defensive illusions guard well-being. People supposedly are least depressed if they claim responsibility for good outcomes and deny responsibility for bad ones. Control theory states that active, effective problem solving builds well-being; thus a sense of personal control and responsibility for both success and failure is associated with low levels of depression. Which theory is right? Regression analyses of the self-reports of 809 randomly selected Illinois residents show that a sense of responsibility for both successes and failures (instrumentalism) is associated with low levels of depression. There is no measurable benefit from claiming responsibility for the good things while denying responsibility for the bad (self-defense). Depression is associated with not feeling in control of good outcomes, or of bad outcomes, or of both. The sense of control reflects the reality of social and economic status. It explains part of the relationship between status and depression. We infer that defensive illusions are no substitute for genuine control.
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Cites
Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.
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Illusion and well‐being: A social psychological perspective on mental health
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193 · Cited by 7,814
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The sociological study of stress
Pearlin, L. I. (1989) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.2307/2136956 · Cited by 3,263
Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: Sadder but wiser?
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On causality, responsibility, and self-blame: a theoretical note
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Cited by
Stress, Coping, and Social Support Processes: Where Are We? What Next?
Thoits, P. A. (1995) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.2307/2626957 · Cited by 3,496
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., & Ackerman, P. L. (2000) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.2000.2896 · Cited by 1,237
Perceived Discrimination and Depression among Mexican-Origin Adults in California
Finch, B. K., Kolody, B., & Vega, W. A. (2000) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.2307/2676322 · Cited by 815
Issues of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Caregiving Research: A 20-Year Review (1980-2000)
Dilworth-Anderson, P., Williams, I. C., & Gibson, B. E. (2002) · The Gerontologist · doi:10.1093/geront/42.2.237 · Cited by 759
Cast, A. D., & Burke, P. J. (2002) · Social Forces · doi:10.1353/sof.2002.0003 · Cited by 759
Metadata
- Authors
- Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1990-03
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 71
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1968826426
- Cited by
- 339
- References
- 8
- FWCI
- 9.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
