Family and Contextual Predictors of Depressive Symptoms in Inner-City African American Youth

Family and contextual predictors of depression in inner-city, African American youth have rarely been examined. In this study we explore the contribution of current and historical life events, family conflict, perceived social support from mother, maternal depression, and maternal explanatory style to the depressive symptoms of inner-city African American school-age (M = 10.7 years) children. Home interviews were conducted with 89 mother and child dyads living in moderate- to high-violent areas of a southeastern city. Regression analyses revealed that the children in this sample with higher levels of depressive symptoms had higher levels of child-reported everyday stress, were more likely to have been abused at some point in their past, came from homes with mothers who were less well educated, and had mothers who reported higher levels of depression, a past history of domestic abuse, as well as a less pessimistic explanatory style. Implications for interventions with inner-city African American families are discussed.     

Explanatory Style and Health: Mechanisms Linking Pessimism to Illness1

This study tests the relationship between pessimistic explanatory style and illness with questionnaire data. Questionnaires were administered to 234 college students at a mid‐sized Western university. Four variables were tested as potential mediators of the pessimistic explanatory style/illness relationship: symptoms of depression, perceived stress, social support, and poor health practices. Results indicated that only the global dimension of pessimistic explanatory style was related to experiences of illness, and hence was the only dimension that could be mediated by the proposed variables. Results demonstrated that symptoms of depression mediated the relationship between global attributions for negative events and illness. Exploratory analyses also suggest that stress is implicated in this process such that it increases symptoms of depression, which in turn influence illness.     

Is pessimism a risk factor for depressive mood among community-dwelling older adults?

This study examined two senses in which pessimism might be a risk factor for depressive mood among older adults. The first was that a pessimistic explanatory style would predict changes toward depressive mood when combined with stressful life events. The second was that predictive pessimism, or thinking that bad events will happen in the future, would predict changes in depressive symptoms. We found an interaction between explanatory style and life stressors, but it was the optimists who were at higher risk for depressive symptoms after negative life events. We also found support for predictive pessimism, however, as a predictor of depressive symptoms over time.     

Learned helplessness in children: a longitudinal study of depression, achievement, and explanatory style

In this longitudinal study, the depressive symptoms, life events, and explanatory styles of 168 school children were measured five times during the course of 1 year. Measures of school achievement were obtained once during the year. Depressive symptoms and explanatory styles were found to be quite stable over the year. As predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness theory, explanatory style both correlated with concurrent levels of depression and school achievement and predicted later changes in depression during the year. Depression also predicted later explanatory styles. The implications of these results for intervention with children with depressive symptoms or school achievement problems are discussed.     

Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program

This study evaluated the Penn Resiliency Program's effectiveness in preventing depression when delivered by therapists in a primary care setting. Two-hundred and seventy-one 11- and 12-year-olds, with elevated depressive symptoms, were randomized to PRP or usual care. Over the 2-year follow-up, PRP improved explanatory style for positive events. PRP's effects on depressive symptoms and explanatory style for negative events were moderated by sex, with girls benefiting more than boys. Stronger effects were seen in high-fidelity groups than low-fidelity groups. PRP did not significantly prevent depressive disorders but significantly prevented depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders (when combined) among high-symptom participants. Findings are discussed in relation to previous PRP studies and research on the dissemination of psychological interventions. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The Hopelessness Theory of Depression: A Test of the Diathesis–Stress and Causal Mediation Components in Third and Seventh Grade Children

The goal of the current study was to test the diathesis–stress and causal mediation components of the hopelessness theory of depression in third- and seventh-grade children. The procedure involved an initial assessment of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and the 3 cognitive styles posited as vulnerability factors by hopelessness theory. The procedure also involved a series of 6 weekly follow-up assessments in which depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and the occurrence of negative events were assessed. A depressogenic attributional style interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in seventh-grade children but not in third-grade children. A depressogenic inferential style about consequences interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in both third- and seventh-grade children. Last, a depressogenic inferential style about the self interacted with negative events to predict increases in depressive symptoms in third- and seventh-grade girls but not boys. None of these interactions were mediated by hopelessness.     

Explanatory style across the life span: evidence for stability over 52 years

Analyzed explanatory style across the life span. 30 Ss whose average age was 72 responded to questions about their current life and provided diaries or letters written in their youth, an average of 52 years earlier. A blind content analysis of explanatory style derived from these 2 sources revealed that explanatory style for negative events was stable throughout adult life (r = .54, p less than .002). In contrast, there appeared to be no stability of explanatory style for positive events between the same 2 time periods. These results suggest that explanatory style for negative events may persist across the life span and may constitute an enduring risk factor for depression, low achievement, and physical illness.     

大学生归因方式、气质性乐观与心理幸福感的关系

采用问卷调查的方法,对350名大学生的归因方式、气质性乐观与心理幸福感(即抑郁、生活满意度)的关系进行了研究,结果表明:(1)归因方式问卷的总分与气质性乐观、生活满意度呈显著负相关,与抑郁呈显著正相关,气质性乐观与抑郁呈显著负相关,与生活满意度呈显著正相关;(2)归因方式的自身性维度上,乐观者、悲观者的归因方式无显著性差异;持久性和整体性维度上,对可控性低水平事件的归因方式无显著性差异,对中、高水平事件,悲观者的归因方式比乐观者更悲观;(3)归因方式对抑郁、生活满意度的影响以气质性乐观为中介变量.     

Positive attributional style,life events and their effect on children's mood: Prospective study

The present study extended previous research into the role of cognitive style in predicting depressive symptoms in children by examining positive attributional style for positive events in a prospective manner, with a focus on the influence of prior life experience. A non‐clinical sample of 102 children (aged 10–12 years) was recruited. Participants completed self‐report measures of depression, attributional style, stressful life events, and positive life events on two occasions (approximately 6 months apart). Positive attributional style for positive events moderated the relationship between negative life events and follow‐up depressive symptoms. Number of positive events did not significantly moderate the negative life events–depression symptoms relationship although there was a trend in the expected direction. Positive attributional style for positive events appeared to act as both a mediator and moderator in the positive events–depression symptoms relationship. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Predictors of Stress Generation in Early Adolescence: Pathway to Depressive Symptoms

Although individuals with depression have been found to experience a higher rate of stress in their lives, it remains unclear to what extent other personal characteristics may contribute to stress generation. The current study extended past research by examining the effects of two theoretically and empirically supported cognitive vulnerabilities to depression (negative cognitive style and rumination) as predictors of dependent interpersonal and achievement events, independent events, and relational peer victimization. In a diverse sample of 301 early adolescents (56 % female; M_age?=?12.82 years), we found that negative cognitive style prospectively predicted the experience of dependent interpersonal stress and relational victimization, and that rumination did not predict stress in any of the domains. Furthermore, the occurrence of intervening stress mediated the associations between negative cognitive style and subsequent depressive symptoms. Additionally, whereas negative cognitive style predicted relational victimization among both boys and girls, girls were particularly vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms following the occurrence of relational victimization. Thus, a negative cognitive style may contribute to the occurrence of stressful events, which in turn increases depressive symptoms. Girls may be particularly reactive to relational victimization, representing one pathway through which sex differences in depression may emerge.     

Depressive symptoms are associated with unrealistic negative predictions of future life events

This study examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and bias in the prediction of future life events. Responding to internet announcements, 153 participants varying widely in self-reported depression symptom severity estimated the probability of 40 events occurring over the succeeding 30 days. After the 30-day period, participants reported which events occurred. Optimistic/pessimistic biases were related to level of depressive symptoms. A non-significant optimistic bias characterized participants with low depressive symptoms whereas a significant pessimistic bias characterized participants with high depressive symptoms. Those reporting mild symptoms did not exhibit a systematic pessimistic or optimistic bias. General imprecision in predictions for undesirable events was associated with depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that depression is associated with pessimistic bias rather than accuracy in judgment.     

Cognitive Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms in Children: The Protective Role of Self-efficacy Beliefs in a Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study

The current multi-wave longitudinal study on childhood examined the role that social and academic self-efficacy beliefs and cognitive vulnerabilities play in predicting depressive symptoms in response to elevations in idiographic stressors. Children (N?=?554; males: 51.4 %) attending second and third grade completed measures of depressive symptoms, negative cognitive styles, negative life events, and academic and social self-efficacy beliefs at four time-points over 6 months. Results showed that high levels of academic and social self-efficacy beliefs predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms, whereas negative cognitive styles about consequences predicted higher depression. Furthermore, children reporting higher social self-efficacy beliefs showed a smaller elevation in levels of depressive symptoms when reporting an increases in stress than children with lower social self-efficacy beliefs. Findings point to the role of multiple factors in predicting children’s depression in the long term and commend the promotion of self-efficacy beliefs and the modification of cognitive dysfunctional styles as relevant protective factors.     

Developmental differences in cognitive diatheses for child depression

We studied developmental changes in the relation between cognitive style (i.e., attributional style and cognitive errors) and depression in children. Subjects included 409 fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade school children. We hypothesized (1) that evidence congruent with a cognitive diathesis model of depression would emerge with development across middle childhood, (2) that Event × Cognitive Style × Age interactions would be specific to some domains of stressful events but not others, and (3) that interactions would be especially prominent in domains that children regarded as personally important. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that cognitive style moderated the relation between events and self-reported depressive symptoms only in later childhood, and that such interactions were specific to certain domains of stressful events and cognitions. The importance of distinguishing among types of stress and cognitions in future tests of diathesis-stress models of childhood depression are discussed. Implications of developmental differences in the psychopathology of child depression also emerge.     

Influences of Biological and Adoptive Mothers’ Depression and Antisocial Behavior on Adoptees’ Early Behavior Trajectories

Research clearly demonstrates that parents pass risk for depression and antisocial behavior on to their children. However, most research confounds genetic and environmental mechanisms by studying genetically related individuals. Furthermore, most studies focus on either depression or antisocial behavior in parents or children, despite evidence of co-occurrence and shared etiology, and few consider the early origins of these problems in childhood. We estimated the influence of biological and adoptive mothers’ depression and antisocial behavior on growth in child externalizing and internalizing behaviors across early childhood using data from a prospective adoption study. Participants were 346 matched triads of physically healthy children (196 boys; 150 girls), biological mothers (BM), and adoptive mothers (AM). Latent growth curve models were estimated using AM reports of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors at ages 18, 27, and 54 months. Predictors of intercept (18 months) but not slope were identified. BM lifetime histories of major depressive disorder predicted child externalizing behaviors and BM antisocial behavior predicted child internalizing behavior. AM depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior were associated with both child outcomes. AM paths, but not BM paths were partially replicated using adopted fathers’ reports of child outcomes. BM obstetric complications, prenatal depressive symptoms, and postnatal adoptive family contact with BM did not account for BM paths. This adoption study distinguished risks conferred by biological mothers’ depression and antisocial behavior to children’s behaviors from those associated with adoptive mothers’ related symptoms. Future studies should examine gene-environment interplay to explain the emergence of serious problem trajectories in later childhood.     

Cognitive biases in three prediction tasks: A test of the cognitive model of depression

Cognitive therapy for depression is based on an assumption that depressed individuals have inaccurate, negative biases. Whether this assumption is accurate remains unresolved. Thus, this study sought to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and bias in three sets of predictions (i.e., predictions of future life events, how one would be rated by a significant other, and performance on a vocabulary test). Following study announcements made to a subset of people pre-screened for depressive symptoms, 85 participants with widely varying depressive symptoms (17 of whom met diagnostic criteria for depression) made predictions on three judgment tasks and the outcomes for these tasks were assessed. Optimistic/pessimistic biases were related to depressive symptoms for each of the three tasks. Participants with high levels of depressive symptoms and depressed participants exhibited substantial pessimistic bias. Those high in depressive symptoms exhibited significant pessimistic bias on all three tasks. Participants meeting diagnostic criteria for depression exhibited pessimistic bias on two of three tasks. There was no evidence that depressive symptoms were associated with greater accuracy in judgments. Results are largely consistent with cognitive models of depression which postulate that depression is associated with pessimistic biases.     

Social anxiety and perceptions of likeability by peers in children

The current study aimed to investigate the discrepancy between self-reported and peer-reported likeability among children, and the relation with social anxiety, depression, and social support. In total, 532 children between 7 and 12 years completed questionnaires about social anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and social support, estimated their own likeability, and indicated how much they liked their classmates. Children with higher levels of social anxiety or depression overestimated their likeability less or even underestimated their likeability. Social anxiety symptoms, but not depressive symptoms, were significant predictors of the discrepancy. Social support was positively related to likeability and negatively related to social anxiety, but did not moderate the association between social anxiety symptoms and perception accuracy of likeability. These results are in line with cognitive theories of childhood social anxiety, and they stress the importance of using multi-informant measures when studying the relation between social anxiety and social functioning in children.     

Prevention of depressive symptoms in school children

This paper describes the development and preliminary efficacy of a program designed to prevent depressive symptoms in at-risk 10–13 year-olds, and relates the findings to the current understanding of childhood depression. The treatment targets depressive symptoms and related difficulties such as conduct problems, low academic achievement, low social competence, and poor peer relations, by proactively teaching cognitive techniques. Children were identified as ‘at-risk’ based on depressive symptoms and their reports of parental conflict. Sixty-nine children participated in treatment groups and were compared to 73 children in control groups. Depressive symptoms were significantly reduced and classroom behavior was significantly improved in the treatment group as compared to controls at post-test. Six-month follow-up showed continued reduction in depressive symptoms, as well as significantly fewer externalizing conduct problems, as compared to controls. The reduction in symptoms was most pronounced in the children who were most at risk.     

Pessimistic explanatory style and response to illness

Previous studies have shown that a pessimistic explanatory style is a risk factor for illness, but the factors linking explanatory style and illness are unknown. One's characteristic response to poor health may mediate this relationship. Perhaps pessimistic individuals act helplessly in the face of their symptoms, thereby exacerbating disease. In the present study, we investigated this possibility by asking 96 young adults to complete measures of explanatory style, habitual response to illness, and ways of coping during their most recent episode of illness. Subjects who explain bad events pessimistically (with internal, stable, and global causes) reported more frequent illnesses during the past year and rated their overall health more poorly than those who habitually favor external, unstable, and specific explanations. When ill, the pessimistic subjects were less likely than their optimistic counterparts to take active steps to combat their illness. Our results suggest that one pathway leading from pessimistic explanatory style to poor health is mundane: passivity in the face of disease.     

Current and Past Maternal Depression, Maternal Interaction Behaviors, and Children’s Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms

Relations among past maternal depressive disorder, current depressive symptoms, current maternal interaction behaviors, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 204 women and their young adolescent offspring (mean age = 11.86, SD = 0.55). Mothers either had (n = 157) or had not (n = 57) experienced at least one depressive disorder during the child's life. Mothers and children participated in a problem-solving task, video-taped for later coding. Mothers with current depressive symptoms and those with histories of chronic/severe depressive disorders displayed fewer positive behaviors toward their children; mothers with current depressive symptoms also showed more negative behaviors with their children. The relation between mothers' depression history and their behavior during the interaction with their child was partially mediated by mothers' current mood state. Moreover, high levels of maternal negativity and low levels of positivity during the problem-solving task were related to children's externalizing problems. Maternal positivity partially mediated the relation between maternal depression and children's externalizing symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of providing parenting interventions for depressed mothers.     

Explanatory style and cell-mediated immunity in elderly men and women

Correlated pessimistic explanatory style--the belief that negative events are caused by internal, stable, and global factors--with lowered immunocompetence in a sample of 26 older adults. Two measures of cell-mediated immunity--T-helper cell/T-suppressor cell ratio and T-lymphocyte response to mitogen challenge--were lower in individuals with a pessimistic style, controlling for the influence of current health, depression, medication, recent weight change, sleep, and alcohol use. A relative increase in the percentage of T-suppressor cells seemed to underlie this immunosuppression. Although the mechanism by which explanatory style might influence immune function remains unknown, we speculate that a pessimistic style might be an important psychological risk factor--at least among older people--in the early course of certain immune-mediated diseases.