Self-appraisals have also been studied as antecedents to depressive symptoms (Hoffman, Cole, Martin, Tram, & Seroczynski, 2000). The researchers followed 360 6th to 8th graders (51% female; 62% Caucasian American, 35% African American, 2% Hispanic, 1% multi-ethnic, 1% other) to determine if their self-perceptions and the self-perceptions of others would result in greater levels of depression. The negative cognitive appraisal theory that was being tested is similar to the cognitive theory of depression (Beck, 1976), which posits that negative thoughts result in negative affect. The results support this theory, with those adolescents presenting with negative self-appraisals having higher levels of depressive symptoms. Consistent with this research, Leadbeater, Kupermine, Blatt, and Hertzog (1999) conducted a study on an ethnically diverse sample (42% White, 29% African American, 27% Hispanic, and 3% Asian) of 460 6th and 7th graders in upstate New York to determine whether there were gender differences for internal and external problems. The sample was equally distributed between males and females. The data from this one-year prospective multivariate project revealed that being self-critical predicted both internal (e.g., depression and anxiety) and external problems (e.g., conduct disorder) for boys and girls. Having internal problems at the first time period was related to a decreased chance of developing external problems; the contrary was not true for external problems. Boys were found to have more external problems than girls, while girls had more internal problems than boys.