Maladaptive Cognitions and Attributional Styles Among Youth with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

Although studies have examined cognitive styles among adults with bipolar disorder (BD), less is known about this issue in pediatric samples. Therefore, we investigated negative cognitions and attributional styles in pediatric patients with BD and healthy controls (HC). Participants completed measures about their views of themselves, the world, and the future and causal attributions for positive and negative events. Compared to HCs, youth with BD displayed greater negative thoughts about others and the future, but not about themselves. They were also more likely to report dysfunctional attributional styles for negative events. When including depressive and manic symptoms in the analyses, both were significant covariates and accounted for the group differences in negative cognitions. Findings point to the importance of manic and depressive symptoms in the occurrence of maladaptive thinking patterns among pediatric patients with BD and highlight the unique cognitive styles specific to this group.