Elevated responding to safe conditions as a specific risk factor for anxiety versus depressive disorders: evidence from a longitudinal investigation

The current study evaluated the degree to which startle reflexes (SRs) in safe conditions versus danger conditions were predictive of the onset of anxiety disorders. Specificity of these effects to anxiety disorders was evaluated in comparison to unipolar depressive disorders and with consideration of level of neuroticism. A startle paradigm was administered at baseline to 132 nondisordered adolescents as part of a longitudinal study examining risk factors for emotional disorders. Participants underwent a repetition of eight safe-danger sequences and were told that delivery of an aversive stimulus leading to a muscle contraction of the arm would occur only in the late part of danger conditions. One aversive stimulus occurred midway in the safe-danger sequences. Participants were assessed for the onset of anxiety and unipolar depressive disorders annually over the next 3 to 4 years. Larger SR magnitude during safe conditions following delivery of the aversive stimulus predicted the subsequent first onset of anxiety disorders. Moreover, prediction of the onset of anxiety disorders remained significant above and beyond the effects of comorbid unipolar depression, neuroticism, and subjective ratings of intensity of the aversive stimulus. In sum, elevated responding to safe conditions following an aversive stimulus appears to be a specific, prospective risk factor for the first onset of anxiety disorders.     

Brooding as moderator of depressive symptoms after a work accident: A longitudinal study

This study analyzes the relationship between having experienced a work accident and developing depressive symptoms six months later, considering the subjective severity of accidents, the use of both positive and negative religious coping strategies, and brooding as predictors variables. Fifty seven women and 187 men were evaluated during the month following their accident (T1) and six months later (T2). The results show that after controlling for initial depressive symptoms, all predictors showed a statistically significant relationship with depression at six months, including the interaction between brooding and subjective severity of accident. Forty nine percent of resilient participants exhibited low symptoms at T1 and T2, 22% of recovered individuals showed high symptoms at T1 and low symptoms afterwards, 20% of depressive individuals had high symptoms at T1 and T2, and 8% exhibited high symptoms only at T2. High severity, brooding and religious coping at T1 differentiated those who exhibited stable symptoms from those who were resilient. Resilience was specifically predicted with a negative coefficient by the interaction of brooding with subjective severity of accident. We conclude that brooding is a variable that moderates the relationship between subjective severity of accident and the development and maintenance of depressive symptoms. Subjective severity of accident, brooding and negative religious coping are risk factors, while positive religious coping is not a sufficient protection factor.     

Excessive reassurance seeking: delineating a risk factor involved in the development of depressive symptoms

Six studies investigated (a) the construct validity of reassurance seeking and (b) reassurance seeking as a specific vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that reassurance seeking is a reasonably cohesive, replicable, and valid construct, discernible from related interpersonal variables. Study 3 demonstrated that reassurance seeking displayed diagnostic specificity to depression, whereas other interpersonal variables did not, in a sample of clinically diagnosed participants. Study 4 prospectively assessed a group of initially symptom-free participants, and showed that those who developed future depressive symptoms (as compared with those who remained symptom-free) obtained elevated reassurance-seeking scores at baseline, when all participants were symptom-free, but did not obtain elevated scores on other interpersonal variables. Studies 5 and 6 indicate that reassurance seeking predicts future depressive reactions to stress. Taken together, the six studies support the construct validity of reassurance seeking, as well as its potential role as a specific vulnerability factor for depression.     

Cognitive schemas as longitudinal predictors of self-reported adolescent depressive symptoms and resilience

Given that depression risk intensifies in adolescence, examining associates of depressive symptoms during the shift from childhood to adolescence is important for expanding knowledge about the etiology of depression symptoms and disorder. A longitudinal youth report was employed to examine the trajectory of both the content and structure of positive and negative schemas in adolescence and also whether these schemas could prospectively predict depressive symptoms and youth-reported resilience. One hundred and ninety-eight participants (aged 9 to 14) were recruited from four schools to complete measures of youth depressive symptoms, resilience, and schema content and structure. Those who consented to a follow-up study completed the same measures online (50 participants completed). Negative and positive schema content and structure were related over time. After controlling depressive symptoms/resilience at Time 1, negative schema content was the only significant predictor (trend level) of depressive symptoms and resilience at Time 2. Implications for cognitive theories and clinical practice are discussed.     

Loneliness and depressive symptoms: the mediating and moderating role of uncontrollable ruminative thoughts

Although feelings of loneliness often are accompanied by depressive symptoms, little is known about underlying mechanisms in this association. The present study sampled 370 college freshmen and investigated whether rumination (and its components of Uncontrollability, Causal Analysis, and Understanding) functioned as a mediator or moderator in the relationship between 2 types of loneliness (as experienced in the relationship with parents and with peers, respectively) and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that rumination partially mediated the relationship between peer-related loneliness and depressive symptoms and moderated the relationship between parent-related loneliness and depressive symptoms. In addition, the uncontrollable nature, rather than the content, of these ruminative thoughts about parent- and peer-related loneliness was particularly harmful in the development of depressive symptoms. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A longitudinal analysis of anxiety and depressive symptoms

The authors modeled depressive and anxiety symptom data from 1,391 participants in a longitudinal study of middle-aged and older Swedish twins (M age = 60.9 years, SD = 13.3). Although anxiety and depression were highly correlated, a model with distinct Anxiety and Depression factors fit the data better than models with Positive and Negative Affect factors or a single Mental Health factor. Lack of well-being was associated with anxiety rather than depression. Over two 3-year intervals, anxiety symptoms led to depressive symptoms, but the relationship was not reciprocal. Anxiety symptoms were more stable than depression. These findings provide additional support for the idea that anxiety symptoms may reflect a personality trait such as neuroticism more than do depressive symptoms and suggest that low positive affect may not be as specific to depression among older adults as in younger people.     

Family and peer social support as specific correlates of adolescent depressive symptoms

Depression models that emphasize the social environment have not been tested with adolescents and their specificity to depressive symptoms has not been demonstrated In a study of 94 adolescent inpatients, distinctions were drawn between family and peer support to determine if these sources of support were differentially related to depression symptoms. Step-down multivariate multipleregression analyses showed that depression symptoms were uniquely predicted by social relationship variables after accounting for the effects of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms. Depression was negatively related to family and paternal support, but it was positively related to peer support. Furthermore, family and paternal support interacted with peer support in the prediction of depression. The results are consistent with the assertion that disturbances in important supportive attachments have special significance for the experience of depressive symptoms by adolescents.This research was supported by postdoctoral research fellowship funds provided to the first author by the National Research Council and a grant to the second author by the Graduate Student Association of Arizona State University. The authors express appreciation to Dr. Ruedi Hahnloser, Senior Psychologist, and the patients and staff of Camelback Hospitals for their cooperation in conducting this research.     

Cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms: a longitudinal study of adolescents and young adults

Cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms have been shown to be related in previous research. This paper examined the relationship between cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal sample of 688 adolescents and young adults through surveys conducted over 13 yr. The results indicate that a history of earlier cigarette smoking in adolescence predicts later depressive symptoms in the late twenties. The study also suggests that depressive symptoms during adolescence predict cigarette smoking in the late twenties but not above and beyond prior smoking. These results help clarify and expand current knowledge on the links between cigarette smoking and depression. The results point to several clinical implications for treatment of both cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms among both adolescents and young adults.     

Predictors and consequences of childhood depressive symptoms: a 5-year longitudinal study.

A 5-year longitudinal study investigated the interrelationships among children's experiences of depressive symptoms, negative life events, explanatory style, and helplessness behaviors in social and achievement situations. The results revealed that early in childhood, negative events, but not explanatory style, predicted depressive symptoms; later in childhood, a pessimistic explanatory style emerged as a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, alone and in conjunction with negative events. When children suffered periods of depression, their explanatory styles not only deteriorated but remained pessimistic even after their depression subsided, presumably putting them at risk for future episodes of depression. Some children seem repeatedly prone to depressive symptoms over periods of at least 2 years. Depressed children consistently showed helpless behaviors in social and achievement settings.     

Childhood experience of illness as a risk factor for medically unexplained symptoms

Clinical experience suggests that a high proportion of patients with medically unexplained symptoms or somatoform disorders give histories of adverse childhood experiences. Previous work has reported that both personal and family experience of illness may be associated with later unexplained symptoms in the individual. Most of this research is subject to recall bias. This review explores data from the UK Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, a population-based birth cohort study. The main finding of this work is that childhood experience of illness in parents is an independent risk factor for later unexplained symptoms. Personal experience of illness has a more complicated relationship. There is no evidence that severe physical disease in childhood is associated with later unexplained symptoms, but common childhood unexplained symptoms are predictors of symptoms in adulthood.     

Maladaptive perfectionism as an intervening variable between psychological control and adolescent depressive symptoms: a three-wave longitudinal study.

Maladaptive perfectionism has been postulated as an intervening variable between psychologically controlling parenting and adolescent internalizing problems. Although this hypothesis has been confirmed in a number of cross-sectional studies, it has not yet been examined from a longitudinal perspective. Findings from this 3-wave longitudinal study show that parental psychological control (as indexed by parent and adolescent reports) at age 15 years predicted increased levels of maladaptive perfectionism 1 year later. Maladaptive perfectionism, in turn, predicted increased levels of adolescent depressive symptoms again 1 year later and acted as a significant intervening variable between parental psychological control at Time 1 and depressive symptoms at Time 3. Multigroup analyses show that the model tested was consistent across gender for paternal psychological control but not for maternal psychological control. Suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Impaired specific autobiographical memory as a risk factor for posttraumatic stress after trauma

This study tested the proposal that impaired retrieval of specific autobiographical memories is a risk factor for psychological disturbance after trauma exposure. Trainee firefighters (N = 60) were assessed during training (before trauma exposure) on the Autobiographical Memory Test, Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and Traumatic Events Questionnaire. Participants were reassessed 4 years later (N = 46) on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale and BDI-II. All participants had been exposed to multiple traumatic events, and 15% met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Impaired retrieval of specific memories in response to positive cues prior to trauma exposure significantly predicted posttraumatic stress severity after trauma exposure. These findings provide initial evidence that impaired specific retrieval of memories may be a risk factor for posttraumatic stress.     

Increases in depressive symptomatology in the rural elderly: results from a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

Depressive symptomatology was examined in a large sample of noninstitutionalized older adults using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D). Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data showed age-related increases in mean CES-D scores and increases in the percentage of respondents scoring at or above the cutoff score of 16. Variables collected at baseline in the longitudinal study from 2,032 participants 65 years of age and older were significant predictors of depressive symptomatology 3 and 6 years later. Baseline CES-D scores accounted for the largest proportion of the variance.     

Adolescent girls' interpersonal vulnerability to depressive symptoms: a longitudinal examination of reassurance-seeking and peer relationships

A transactional, interpersonal framework involving adolescents' reassurance-seeking and peer experiences may be useful for understanding the emergence of gender differences in depression prevalence during the adolescent transition. Sociometric nominations of peer acceptance/rejection and ratings of friendship quality provided by adolescents and their friends were used to measure peer experiences among 6th-8th-grade adolescents (N=520) over 3 annual time points. After controlling for age and pubertal development, significant but small prospective effects offered mixed support for hypotheses: (a) depressive symptoms and negative peer relations predicted increasing levels of girls' reassurance-seeking; (b) initial levels of reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted deteriorating friendship quality among girls and low friendship stability, respectively; and (c) reassurance-seeking combined with poor peer experiences predicted increases in girls' depressive symptoms.     

Hopelessness as a risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among interpersonal violence survivors

Post-traumatic stress disorder often co-occurs with depression, and they may share common risk factors. One possible common cognitive risk factor is hopelessness. Thus, we examined whether hopelessness was related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Participants were 202 female survivors of interpersonal violence. Relationships between self-reported and interviewer-rated measures of hopelessness gathered at 2 weeks post-trauma and self-reported and interviewer-rated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder gathered at 2 weeks and 3 months post-trauma were examined. Hierarchical, simultaneous regression analyses that co-varied trauma type revealed that hopelessness was related to self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, both concurrently and prospectively. Follow-up analyses revealed that relationships between hopelessness and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder were due almost entirely to shared variance with depression. No relationships were found between hopelessness and interviewer-rated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.     

Delayed onset of drunkenness as a protective factor for adolescent alcohol misuse and sexual risk taking: a longitudinal study

A longitudinal structural equation model was tested to examine relationships among adolescent alcohol misuse, sexual risk-taking behaviors, parental monitoring, and demographic variables. Participants (N=561) were between the ages of 15-18 years old and were representative of the Buffalo, New York, metropolitan area. Two waves (separated by a year) of a larger longitudinal project were used. At each of these waves, ongoing (i.e., past year) alcohol misuse and sexual risk taking were measured. Age of onset of drunkenness and of sexual intercourse were also obtained. Among the major results were that later onset of drunkenness diminished future levels of alcohol misuse and sexual risk taking and that parental monitoring mitigated later levels of alcohol misuse. Also, single-parent family structure was directly related to sexual risk taking and indirectly related to greater alcohol misuse through lowered monitoring. Multiple-group modeling revealed that the essential features of the model were consistent across participant race and gender.     

Declines in divergent thinking with age: cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-sequential analyses

Six measures of divergent thinking were administered to 825 men ranging in age from 17 to 101 over the period from 1959 to 1972; repeat administrations were given to a subset of 278 men after a 6-year interval. Cross-sectional analyses showed curvilinear trends, with an increase in scores for men under 40 and a decline thereafter. Repeated measures analyses on subjects initially aged 33 to 74 generally replicated this finding, whereas cross-sequential analyses suggested a decline for all cohorts tested at a later time. Additional analyses suggested that not all of the decline could be attributed to reduced speed of response production. These longitudinal findings confirm earlier cross-sectional reports of decline in divergent thinking abilities with age.     

Personal vulnerability, life events, and depressive symptoms: a test of a specific interactional model

We tested Beck's (1983) hypothesis that depressive symptoms occur when an individual experiences a negative life event that specifically matches the individual's personal motivational vulnerability. Ninety-eight undergraduates completed measures of depression level, recent life events, and sociotropic and autonomous achievement motivations. Consistent with the theory, sociotropy was associated with depression level and also served as a moderator of the relations between depression and frequency of recent negative social events. However, sociotropy also demonstrated nonpredicted interactive effects with negative events categorized a priori as autonomy related. Autonomy was unrelated to depression and showed no evidence of being a vulnerability to any type of life event. The findings generally support the value of examining the role in depression of interactions between personality characteristics and life events, although they do not support the specific matching predictions.     

Changes in self-perceptions in children with ADHD: a longitudinal study of depressive symptoms and attributional style

This study examined positive self-perceptions in relation to depressive symptoms and attributional style in a sample of 88 boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessed at baseline and at a 2- to 3-year follow-up. Change in boys' self-perceptions of competency in the scholastic, social, and behavioral domains was examined as a predictor of changes in depressive symptoms and depressive attributional style. Additionally, teacher-rated perceptions of competency at baseline and follow-up were considered as unique predictors. Results indicated that across all three domains, a reduction in children's self-perceptions of competency over time predicted greater depressive symptoms at follow-up, even when controlling for teacher-rated competency. Analyses also suggested that a reduction in self-perceptions in the social domain was the strongest relative predictor of later depressive symptoms and also predicted greater depressive attributional style at follow-up. In contrast, teacher-rated competency was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms or attributional style at follow-up. Results support a protective function of positive self-perceptions in regards to depressive cognitions over a 2- to 3-year period for children with ADHD. However, literature suggesting risks for other negative outcomes also is discussed.