Searching for Positive Aspects of Excessive Reassurance-Seeking

We investigated positive aspects of excessive reassurance-seeking in interpersonal relationships. Previous studies have emphasized that excessive reassurance-seeking leads to interpersonal rejection by significant others. However, Fowler & Gasiorek (2017) suggested that excessive reassurance-seekers tend to make efforts to maintain relationships with their romantic partners, and that these efforts affect their own satisfaction with the relationships. We investigated whether the findings of Fowler and Gasiorek in students could be replicated in general heterosexual couples (N = 437 couples). Data were analyzed using the modified actor–partner interdependence model. Results indicated that excessive reassurance-seeking had no actor or partner effects on the efforts to maintain the relationships, which predicted relational satisfaction. However, the actor and partner effects of excessive reassurance-seeking on relational satisfaction through the efforts to maintain the relationships differed according to the relational duration. These findings, despite certain inconsistencies with Fowler and Gasiorek, suggest that excessive reassurance-seeking might have positive effects on relationships.     

Specificity of Information Processing Styles to Depressive Symptoms in Youth Psychiatric Inpatients

Although information processing has been widely studied with depressed adults, little emphasis has been placed on the specificity of resultant findings to depression, as opposed to other psychological disorders. Analogously, even less effort has been directed toward examining the information processing styles of depressed children and adolescents. The present study investigated the specificity of information processing styles to depression and anxiety among 58 youth psychiatric inpatients. To assess information processing, we used a self-referent encoding task, in which participants were presented with positive and negative adjectives; participants were asked whether these adjectives described them or not, and were then tested on recall of the adjectives. After controlling for age and gender, lower rates of positive adjective endorsement and lower rates of positive adjective recall were found to be associated with depression, but not anxiety. Additionally, negative adjective endorsement was associated with anxiety symptoms. These results suggest specific cognitive features of depressive symptoms.     

Depressive Symptoms Among Delinquent Youth: Testing Models of Association with Stress and Support

The high prevalence of depression among incarcerated youth indicates a need to better understand factors that contribute to depression within this vulnerable subgroup. Previous research in general community samples has suggested that high levels of stress and low levels of parental support are associated with depression in young people, but it is unclear whether or how they might be associated with depression among incarcerated youth who are already vulnerable. Using a sample of 228 adolescents (aged 13–18 years) who were detained in the juvenile justice system, stress and support were modeled as independent main effects and as interactive risk factors in relation to depressive symptoms. More stressful life events and less caregiver support were each independently associated with depressive symptoms, but no evidence was found for the buffering hypothesis in this sample. Stressful life events were more strongly associated with depressive symptoms among boys compared to girls.     

老年抑郁症的症状、诊断及测量

对老年抑郁症的症状、诊断和测量的探讨有利于寻找更有效的治疗方法。文章在简要讨论老年抑郁症主要症状以及诊断特点的基础上,重点介绍老年抑郁症的测量工具。文章指出,开展老年抑郁症研究的多学科研究,运用认知神经科学方法深入研究老年抑郁症,制订相对独立的老年抑郁症的分类标准,结合老年抑郁症患者身心特点开发更简便可靠的老年抑郁症量表,将有利于老年抑郁症的进一步研究。     

Excessive Reassurance Seeking, Hassles, and Depressive Symptoms in Children of Affectively Ill Parents: A Multiwave Longitudinal Study

The current study examined whether excessive reassurance seeking serves as a vulnerability factor to depression in a sample of high-risk youth using a multiwave longitudinal design. At Time 1, 140 children (aged 6-14) of affectively disordered parents completed measures assessing reassurance seeking and depressive symptoms. In addition, every 6 weeks during the following year, children and parents completed measures assessing depressive symptoms and the occurrence of hassles. In line with hypotheses, the results of contemporaneous analyses indicated that children with high levels of reassurance seeking reported greater elevations in depressive symptoms following elevations in either hassles or parental depressive symptoms than children with low levels. At the same time, the results of time-lagged analyses indicated that both these relationships were moderated by age with excessive reassurance seeking being associated with greater elevations in depressive symptoms following elevations in either hassles or parental depressive symptoms in older but not younger children.     

The Relationship Among Major Depression, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Preoccupation

The present study investigates whether highly self-preoccupied people (exhibiting a tendency to focus primarily on the self and to maintain self-focused attention) were more likely to experience major depressive episodes (MDEs) than those without such tendencies. One hundred nineteen young community residents, aged 18 to 21, took part in semistructured interviews, during which we investigated their past and present history of mental illness, including MDEs, as delineated by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. rev.; DSM-III-R). Self-preoccupation was measured by the Self-Preoccupation Scale (SPS). Of the 119 participants interviewed, the lowest and highest quarters in the SPS scores formed the low- and high-self-preoccupation (SP) groups. The lifetime prevalence of the DSM-III-R MDE was significantly greater among those high in SP than in the low SP group. Moreover, the high-SP group had significantly more depressive symptoms than the low-SP group. The contributory role of self-preoccupation to suicide ideation and the interpersonal aspects of self-preoccupation were discussed.     

Specificity of Depressive Symptoms and Suicidality in a Juvenile Delinquent Population

Research which has related scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to suicidality have generally neglected to examine the possibility that specific depressive factors within the CDI may be more predictive of suicidality than the full scale score. Knowledge of such factors would help to explain the relationship between depression and suicidality and improve the prediction of suicidal behavior. The current study examined the relationship of depressive factors to suicidality in a sample of 200 incarcerated juvenile delinquents. The published factor structure for the CDI and one derived from the delinquent population were compared. Results revealed two factors from the derived solution, hopelessness and low self-esteem, to be more powerful predictors of suicidal ideation than the full-scale CDI score. These results suggest that symptoms such as low self-esteem and hopelessness may be responsible for the well-documented relationship between depression and suicidality. Furthermore, it appears that the prediction of suicidality may be improved by examining specific depressive factors in suicide research as opposed to full-scale scores from depression inventories such as the CDI.     

The Role of Positive Emotions in Reducing Depressive Symptoms Among Army Wives

The homecoming period following combat deployment can be as stressful to military spouses as the deployment itself. This study used the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions to examine whether personal resources (adaptive coping, maladaptive coping, and resilience) mediate the relationship between positive emotions and depressive symptoms in Army wives (N = 252) following the homecoming of a deployed active-duty service member. Using path analysis, after controlling for demographic variables and marital satisfaction, positive emotions were related to all 3 personal resources (positively to adaptive coping and resilience, negatively to maladaptive coping). In turn, adaptive coping and resilience were related to fewer depressive symptoms and maladaptive coping to greater depressive symptoms. The direct path between positive emotions and depressive symptoms was nonsignificant, suggesting complete mediation. The final model accounted for 54% of the total variance in depressive symptoms. Results support the important role that positive emotions play in decreasing depressive symptoms in this high-risk population.     

A Retrospective Study of Daughters' Emotional Role Reversal with Parents,Attachment Anxiety,Excessive Reassurance-Seeking,and Depressive Symptoms

Emotional role reversal occurs when children provide for the emotional needs of their parents. This reversal of the hierarchical family structure can have negative, enduring costs for daughters who primarily provide, rather than receive, nurturance. More specifically, emotional role reversal was expected to foster attachment anxiety and excessive reassurance-seeking, both of which may promote negative long term effects on daughters' emotional well-being. Female undergraduates (N = 163) from intact families provided self-report data on these constructs. Role reversal with mothers predicted daughters' depressive symptoms. This effect was fully mediated by anxious attachment tendencies. Clinical implications of role reversal are discussed.     

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.     

Sex Differences, Attributional Style, and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents

This study examined attributional style, sex, and depressive symptoms and diagnosis in high school students. The results revealed that (1) for females and males, higher levels of depressive symptoms correlated with a more depressive attributional style; (2) females and males who met diagnostic criteria for a current depressive disorder evidenced more depres-sogenic attributions than psychiatric controls, and never and past depressed adolescents; (3) although no sex differences in terms of attributional patterns for positive events, negative events, or for positive and negative events combined emerged, sex differences were revealed on a number of dimensional scores; (4) across the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) subscale and dimensional scores, the relation between attributions and current self-reported depressive symptoms was stronger for females than males; and (5) no Sex × Diagnostic Group Status interaction effects emerged for CASQ subscale or dimensional scores. Implications of the complex findings from this large-scale, methodologically sophisticated study are addressed.     

Obsessive-Compulsive and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Depressive Cognitive Styles

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occurs with depression, resulting in heightened severity and poorer treatment response. Research on the associations between specific obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and depressive symptoms has utilized measures that have not fully considered the relationship across OCS dimensions. Little is known about which factors explain the overlap between OCS and depressive symptoms. OCS and depressive symptoms may be related via depressive cognitive styles, such as rumination or dampening (i.e., down-regulating positive emotions). We evaluated the associations of OCS dimensions with depressive symptoms and cognitive styles. We also examined the indirect effects of rumination and dampening in the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms. Participants (N = 250) completed questionnaires online. Greater depressive symptoms, rumination, and dampening were associated with greater levels of all OCS dimensions. Path analysis was utilized to examine a model including the direct effect of depressive symptoms on overall OCS and two indirect effects (through rumination and dampening). There was a significant indirect effect of depressive cognitive styles on the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms, through rumination and dampening. Replication in a clinical sample and experimental manipulations may bear important implications for targeting depressive cognitive styles in treatments for OCD and depression.     

A Risk-Amplification Model of Victimization and Depressive Symptoms Among Runaway and Homeless Adolescents

This report is an examination of a theoretical model of risk amplification within a sample of 255 homeless and runaway adolescents. The young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters in urban centers of four Midwestern states. Separate models were examined for males (n = 102) and females (n = 153). Results indicated that street experiences such as affiliation with deviant peers, deviant subsistence strategies, risky sexual behaviors, and drug and/or alcohol use amplified the effects of early family abuse on victimization and depressive symptoms for young women. These street adaptations significantly increased the likelihood of serious victimization over and above the effects of early family history for both young men and women. Similarly, street behaviors and experiences increased the likelihood of depressive symptoms for young women over the effects of early family abuse, but not for young men. The risk-amplification model from the life course theoretical perspective is discussed as an example of the cumulative continuity of maladaptive behaviors.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among Inner-City African-American Children and Adolescents

We longitudinally examined across four years the presence and correlates of depressive symptoms in a sample of inner-city African-American children, an ethnic minority population which is understudied regarding child depressive symptoms. Results, based on mother- and child-report, did not indicate gender differences in depressive symptoms at the onset of adolescence. However, depressive symptoms did significantly predict future child adjustment problems. Implications for the understanding and future study of depressive symptoms in ethnic minority youth are discussed.     

Acculturation,Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

A sample of 157 Korean immigrants responded to measures of acculturation level, stress from acculturation, and depressive symptoms. The authors hypothesized that adaptive acculturation would depend on assimilation regarding social interactions and the host culture's language as well as on retention of a core identity, including values and traditions of the culture of origin. Consistent with the mediation hypothesis, acculturation, based on a factor representing language use and social relationships, was related to lower acculturative stress and, in turn, lower depression. However, there was no direct support for the integrative, or bicultural, strategy of acculturation. Stress did not mediate the effect of a 2nd acculturation factor, identity and tradition-based acculturation. Rather, this measure of acculturation was directly related to higher depression (i.e., immigrants reporting abandonment of Korean identity, traditions, and values scored higher for depression).     

Relationships Among Sleep Disturbance,Reward System Functioning,Anhedonia, and Depressive Symptoms

Recent models propose reward system dysfunction as a key mediator of the relationship between sleep and depression and anhedonia. This study explored interrelationships among sleep disturbance, depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and reward responsiveness. Two-hundred and sixty undergraduate students completed questionnaires and a daily diary paradigm assessing sleep, reward responsiveness, depression, anhedonia, and positive affect over 1 week. Baseline sleep disturbance was associated with depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and reward responsiveness. Daily diary sleep parameters showed differential associations with anticipatory versus consummatory reward responsiveness and positive affect. Poorer sleep quality, shorter sleep duration, and longer awakening after sleep onset predicted blunted anticipatory and consummatory reward responsiveness, while increased sleep onset latency and lower sleep efficiency predicted only decreased consummatory reward responsiveness. All sleep indices, except sleep onset latency, were associated with positive affect. Findings demonstrate unique associations between disparate sleep disturbance and reward responsiveness elements, highlighting new treatment mechanisms for anhedonia and depression.     

Parental Attachment,Self‐Worth,and Depressive Symptoms Among Emerging Adults

The characteristics of parental attachment were assessed for a sample of 81 emerging adults (ages 22–28 years) and their mothers. Emerging adults' reports of self‐worth were found to mediate the relationship between their reports of parental attachment and depressive symptoms. The emerging adults' unique perspectives of the attachment relationship were more predictive of their self‐reported self‐worth and depressive symptoms than were the mothers' perspectives of the relationship.     

Chatbot-Delivered Psychotherapy for Adults With Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression

Although psychotherapy is a well-established treatment for depression and anxiety, chatbot-delivered psychotherapy is an emerging field that has yet to be explored in depth. This review aims to (a) examine the effectiveness of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy in improving depressive symptoms among adults with depression or anxiety, and (b) evaluate the preferred features for the design of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy. Eight electronic databases were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials. Meta-analysis and random effects meta-regression was conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0 software. Overall effect was measured using Hedges’s g and determined using z statistics at significance level p < .05. Assessment of heterogeneity was done using χ² and I² tests. A meta-analysis of 11 trials revealed that chatbot-delivered psychotherapy significantly improved depressive symptoms (g = 0.54, 95% confidence interval [−0.66, −0.42], p < .001). Although no significant subgroup differences were detected, results revealed larger effect sizes for samples of clinically diagnosed anxiety or depression, chatbots with an embodiment, a combination of types of input and output formats, less than 10 sessions, problem-solving therapy, off-line platforms, and in different regions of the United States than their counterparts. Meta-regression did not identify significant covariates that had an impact on depressive symptoms. Chatbot-delivered psychotherapy can be adopted in health care institutions as an alternative treatment for depression and anxiety. More high-quality trials are warranted to confirm the effectiveness of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy on depressive symptoms.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020153332.     

Possible Insomnia Predicts Some Risky Behaviors Among Adolescents When Controlling for Depressive Symptoms

Attachment theory asserts that secure attachment representations are developed through sensitive and consistent caregiving. If sensitive caregiving is a constant characteristic of the parent, then siblings should have concordant attachment classifications. The authors explored maternal attachment quality assessed by the Attachment Q-Set, maternal sensitivity, and specific mother–child interactions between siblings. Hour-long observations took place in the homes of 9 preschool sibling pairs and their immediate caregivers. The interactions were analyzed using a modified version of Bales’ Small Group Analysis. The results reveal attachment discordance in a third of sibling pairs. While maternal sensitivity was higher with older siblings and mothers displayed more positive emotions when interacting with their younger siblings, attachment quality was not associated with birth order. Therefore, a shift toward a more contextual, family-based perspective of attachment is recommended to further understand how attachment strategies are created and maintained within the child's everyday context.     

Role of Comorbid Depression and Co-occurring Depressive Symptoms in Outcomes for Anxiety-Disordered Youth Treated with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

This study examined the role of comorbid depressive disorders (major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder) and co-occurring depressive symptoms in treatment outcome and maintenance for youth (N = 72, aged 7–14) treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy for a principal anxiety disorder (generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, or social phobia). Hierarchical linear modeling examined treatment outcome and maintenance in terms of severity of the principal anxiety disorder. Results indicated that higher levels of child-reported depressive symptoms predicted less favorable treatment outcome. Higher levels of mother-reported depressive symptoms predicted less favorable treatment maintenance at a 1-year follow-up. Results suggest that co-occurring depressive symptoms play a role in effective treatment for anxiety-disordered youth and support the merits of treatment adaptations for these youth.