Rumination as a vulnerability factor to depression during the transition from early to middle adolescence: a multiwave longitudinal study

The current study examined vulnerability to depression during the transition from early to middle adolescence from the perspective of the response styles theory. During an initial assessment, 382 adolescents (ages 11-15 years) completed self-report measures assessing rumination and depressive symptoms as well as a semistructured clinical interview assessing current and past major depressive episodes. Every 3 months for the subsequent 2 years, adolescents completed self-report measures assessing depressive symptoms and negative events. Every 6 months, adolescents completed a semistructured clinical interview assessing the onset of new major depressive episodes. Higher levels of rumination were associated with a greater likelihood of exhibiting a past history of major depressive episodes, a greater likelihood of experiencing the onset of a future major depressive episode, and greater duration of future depressive episodes. Consistent with a vulnerability-stress perspective, rumination moderated the association between the occurrence of negative events and the development of future depressive symptoms and major depressive episodes.     

个人目标相关性对非临床抑郁者未来想象的影响

通过两个实验考查了非临床抑郁者未来想象的异常是否受到个人目标相关性的调节。实验1采用未来想象任务, 实验2采用可能性评估范式, 两个实验一致发现, 抑郁倾向者想象未来积极事件的异常, 受到了与个人目标相关性的调节：相对于非抑郁倾向者, 抑郁倾向者对未来与个人目标相关的积极事件的预期减弱, 而对未来与个人目标无关的积极事件的预期则没有表现出异常; 同时还发现, 抑郁倾向者表现出了对未来消极预期的普遍增强, 不受与个人目标相关性的影响。     

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.     

Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its correlates among medical students in China: a national survey in 33 universities

We conducted a national survey among medical students in China to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and explore associated risk factors based on an established questionnaire composed of demographic information, life events in the past four weeks before survey, and the validated Chinese version of the 21-item Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The mean age of enrolled 9010 students was 20.7 (standard deviation: 1.6) years. BDI scores indicated that 19.9% had depressive symptoms based on the cut-off score of 14. Socioeconomic factors and student characteristics such as male sex, low monthly income per capita, father’s poor education background, and higher year of study were associated with higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students. Students who studied in comprehensive universities were more likely to have depressive symptoms compared with those from medical universities. Habitual smoking and alcohol drinking, sleep deprivation, and hospitalization or medication for one week or more in the last four weeks also predisposed students to higher risk of depressive symptoms. Our results indicate that depressive symptoms are becoming a highly prevalent health problem among Chinese medical students. Primary and secondary prevention should be prioritized to tackle this issue based on potential risk factors.     

Clinical cutoffs for the beck Depression inventory and the Geriatric Depression scale with older adult psychiatric outpatients

The present study developed new clinical cutoffs for the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) with 59 older adult psychiatric outpatients. Maximum discrimination of a current major depressive episode resulted, with cutoff scores of 22 for the BDI and 16 for the GDS. Specifically, the following validity scores emerged for the BDI: sensitivity, 64%; specificity, 73%; positive predictive power, 75%; negative predictive power, 61%; and hit rate 68%. For the GDS the validity scores were as follows: sensitivity, 79%; specificity, 69%; positive predictive power, 77%; negative predictive power, 72%; and hit rate, 75%. Combined BDI and GDS scores did not result in improved prediction of a current major depressive episode as compared to the GDS alone. These results support the notion that the BDI and GDS are valid quick screening instruments in discriminating a current major depressive episode for older adult psychiatric outpatients.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting is associated with increased positivity when imagining the future

People often think of themselves and their experiences in a more positive light than is objectively justified. Inhibitory control processes may promote this positivity bias by modulating the accessibility of negative thoughts and episodes from the past, which then limits their influence in the construction of imagined future events. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the correlation between retrieval-induced forgetting and the extent to which individuals imagine positive and negative episodic future events. First, we measured performance on a task requiring participants to imagine personal episodic events (either positive or negative), and then we correlated that measure with retrieval-induced forgetting. As predicted, individuals who exhibited higher levels of retrieval-induced forgetting imagined fewer negative episodic future events than did individuals who exhibited lower levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. This finding provides new insight into the possible role of retrieval-induced forgetting in autobiographical memory.     

Differentiating cognitive content between depressed and anxious outpatients

Quantitative research suggests that depressed and anxious patients can be differentiated based on their cognitive content. This study used qualitative research methods to separate the specific components of open-ended depressive and anxious thought content in 79 psychiatric outpatients. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 36), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; n = 10), and other psychiatric disorders (PC; n = 33) were instructed to (a) describe their most bothersome problem; (b) imagine the worst possible negative outcome followed by the best possible positive outcome; and (c) describe associated thoughts and emotions for each scenario. The content of patients' responses were coded to examine (a) the types and severity of problems; (b) the presence or absence of hopelessness, catastrophizing, hopefulness, and unrealistic positive expectations; and (c) the presence or absence of particular emotions associated with imagined worst and best outcomes. More GAD patients than MDD and PC patients indicated anticipated anxious emotions associated with imagined worst outcomes, and fewer MDD patients than GAD and PC patients indicated anticipated happiness associated with imagined best outcomes. No group differences emerged for the other variables considered. These findings suggest that depressed and anxious patients differ in their cognitive expectancies about future life events in terms of their own anticipated emotional reactions.     

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.     

Responses to Positive Affect in Daily Life: Positive Rumination and Dampening Moderate the Association Between Daily Events and Depressive Symptoms

Depressive rumination has been strongly linked to the development and maintenance of depression; however, less attention has been paid to ruminative processes in response to positive affect, and fewer have examined these processes in daily life. The current study sought to address these gaps by exploring depressive rumination and two forms of responses to positive affect, dampening and positive rumination, under ecologically valid conditions using daily diary methodology. One hundred fifty-seven young adults completed 14-day end-of-day diaries assessing positive affect and depressive symptoms in relation to depressive rumination, responses to positive affect, and daily positive and negative events. Daily depressive rumination predicted stronger associations between negative events and daily depressive symptoms. Higher daily dampening was associated with higher daily depressive symptoms and decreased positive affect and predicted lower associations between daily positive events and improvements in mood (including reduced daily positive affect and increased daily depressive symptoms). Higher daily positive rumination was negatively associated with daily depressive symptoms and interacted with daily positive events such that positive rumination had a greater impact on depressed mood on days when positive experiences were low. Results indicate that both depressive rumination and responses to positive affect play a role in influencing daily mood and depressive symptoms.     

Positive Life Events as a Moderator of Stress‐Related Depressive Symptoms

This study examines the relationships among positive life events, negative life events, and depressive symptoms in a sample of college students. Consistent with predictions, the results of a hierarchical multiple regression indicated a significant main effect for negative life events in predicting depressive symptoms such that increases in negative life events were associated with increases in depressive symptoms. There was also significant interaction between positive and negative life events such that the depressive effects of higher levels of negative life events seem to be reduced for subjects who had also experienced higher levels of positive life events.     

Phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself back into the past and forward into the future: influence of valence and temporal distance

As humans, we frequently engage in mental time travel, reliving past experiences and imagining possible future events. This study examined whether similar factors affect the subjective experience associated with remembering the past and imagining the future. Participants mentally "re-experienced" or "pre-experienced" positive and negative events that differed in their temporal distance from the present (close versus distant), and then rated the phenomenal characteristics (i.e., sensorial, contextual, and emotional details) associated with their representations. For both past and future, representations of positive events were associated with a greater feeling of re-experiencing (or pre-experiencing) than representations of negative events. In addition, representations of temporally close events (both past and future) contained more sensorial and contextual details, and generated a stronger feeling of re-experiencing (or pre-experiencing) than representations of temporally distant events. It is suggested that the way we both remember our past and imagine our future is constrained by our current goals.     

Phenomenal characteristics associated with real and imagined events: the effects of event valence and absorption

This study examined the effects of emotional valence of an event and individual differences in absorption on the phenomenal characteristics associated with real and imagined events. Each participant described four events. Two of these were real and two were imagined, with one pleasant and stressful event being generated for each category. Pleasant events (both real and imagined) contained more detail (visual detail, smell, and taste, and more information regarding location, time, etc.) than stressful events. In addition, higher levels of absorption were related to higher ratings for both real and imagined events (for both pleasant and stressful events). Discussion focused on implications for further research in source monitoring and other relevant domains. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive and affective variables as predictors of life satisfaction

This work shows the association between personality variables, such as cognitive and affective variables, and psychological adjustment, such as life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Accordingly, this study assessed the role of outcome expectancies (optimism and pessimism) and affectivity (positive and negative affect) as a predictors of life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. A total of 458 students from the University Rovira i Virgili completed the scales LOT-R, PANAS, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and BDI. Path analysis results suggest that affectivity variables are more important to predict life satisfaction and depressive symptoms than outcome expectancies. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Affective ratings and startle modulation in people with nonclinical depression

This study tested predictions based on the emotion context insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis of Rottenberg, Gross, and Gotlib (2005) that a nonclinical sample of people with depressive symptoms would show reduced responses to both positive and negative stimuli relative to people without depression and would show an enhanced response to novelty. Seventy individuals completed diagnostic questionnaires, made ratings of 21 affectively valenced pictures, and then viewed the same 21 pictures and 21 novel pictures while startle blink responses were recorded from electromyographic activity of the orbicularis oculi. People with scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) indicative of depression demonstrated a lack of affective startle modulation compared to the nondepression group. For all participants, the startle response was larger for novel pictures than for previously viewed pictures, but scores on the BDI were not related to response to novelty. Taken together, the results suggest that nonclinical depression is associated with a lack of affective modulation of startle, as has been shown for clinical depression.     

Oral Pessimism and Depressive Symptoms

I examined the relation of oral optimistic and oral pessimistic personality traits to depressive symptoms to assess the psychoanalytic claim that fixation at the early phase of the oral stage of psychosexual development is related to depression. College students (N = 140) were administered the Oral Optimism Questionnaire (OOQ; Kline, 1978) and Oral Pessimism Questionnaire (OPQ; Kline, 1978) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelsohn, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). Oral pessimism and levels of depressive symptoms were positively correlated, and a subsample of subjects with clinical levels of depressive symptoms also scored significantly higher on the Oral Pessimism Questionnaire than the rest of the sample. For the whole sample, 10 BDI items correlated significantly with the OPQ scores, and 5 OPQ items correlated significantly with the total BDI scores. The psychoanalytic claim relating fixation at the oral pessimism stage to depressive symptoms was supported.     

Effects of self-generated versus experimenter-provided cues on the representation of future events

Most experimental studies of prospection focused on episodic forms of future events prompted by means of verbal cues. However, there is evidence suggesting that future events differ considerably according to whether they are produced in response to external, experimenter-provided verbal cues or they are self-generated. In the present study, we compared the quality, the phenomenal characteristics, the temporal distribution, and the content of imagined events prompted by experimenter-provided cues (i.e., cue-words and short verbal sentences) or elicited by means of verbal cues that were self-generated in an autobiographical fluency task. The results showed that future events prompted by means of self-generated cues contained fewer event-specific details than future events prompted by experimenter-provided cues. However, future events elicited by means of self-generated and by experimenter-provided cues did not differ with respect to their phenomenal characteristics. The temporal distribution and the thematic content of future representations were also affected by the type of cue used to elicit prospection. These results offer a holistic view of the properties of future thinking and suggest that the content and the characteristics of envisioned future events may be affected by the method used to elicit prospection.     

Differentiating Cognitive Content between Depressed and Anxious Outpatients

Quantitative research suggests that depressed and anxious patients can be differentiated based on their cognitive content. This study used qualitative research methods to separate the specific components of open‐ended depressive and anxious thought content in 79 psychiatric outpatients. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 36), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; n = 10), and other psychiatric disorders (PC; n = 33) were instructed to (a) describe their most bothersome problem; (b) imagine the worst possible negative outcome followed by the best possible positive outcome; and (c) describe associated thoughts and emotions for each scenario. The content of patients' responses were coded to examine (a) the types and severity of problems; (b) the presence or absence of hopelessness, catastrophizing, hopefulness, and unrealistic positive expectations; and (c) the presence or absence of particular emotions associated with imagined worst and best outcomes. More GAD patients than MDD and PC patients indicated anticipated anxious emotions associated with imagined worst outcomes, and fewer MDD patients than GAD and PC patients indicated anticipated happiness associated with imagined best outcomes. No group differences emerged for the other variables considered. These findings suggest that depressed and anxious patients differ in their cognitive expectancies about future life events in terms of their own anticipated emotional reactions.     

Adult attachment styles and cognitive vulnerability to depression in a sample of undergraduate students: the mediational roles of sociotropy and autonomy

We analysed the mediational role of the personality dimensions of sociotropy and autonomy in the relationship between certain styles of attachment and depressive symptoms. In order for us to do so, a group of university students filled out the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Revised Personal Style Inventory (PSI-II) and the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ). Individuals having attachment styles with a negative model of self (preoccupied and fearful) obtained significantly higher scores in the BDI than those having attachment styles with a positive model of self (secure and dismissing), which coincides with previous research. We followed the standard procedure of Baron and Kenny of linear regression in order to perform the mediational analyses. The preoccupied attachment style-depressive symptoms relationship was mediated by sociotropy. It was also found that autonomy exerted a significant mediational effect on the relationship between the fearful attachment style and depressive symptoms. These results are consistent with the notion that insecure attachment predisposes individuals to the development of depressogenic personality styles. Thus, the findings of the present study contribute to improving the understanding of the factors involved in the development of vulnerability to depression. Furthermore, the results point out the importance of evaluating both attachment style and sociotropy/autonomy personality dimensions for the treatment of depressive patients.     

抑郁症状中学生自我相关生活事件的回忆、再认和启动效应特点

采用Tversky的实验设计,对非抑郁和抑郁症状中学生的回忆、再认和启动效应进行了探讨。实验发现,抑郁症状中学生对自我相关生活事件信息加工存在负性回忆、负性再认、负性启动和负性加工偏向;抑郁症状中学生对自我相关生活事件信息加工的回忆具有情境一致性;对再认材料的不同加工深度影响抑郁症状中学生自我相关生活事件信息加工的再认;抑郁症状中学生对自我相关生活事件信息加工的负性启动主要是由于对负性条目、中性条目的负性偏向加工引起     

Maternal Responsiveness,Intrusiveness, and Negativity During Play with Infants: Contextual Associations and Infant Cognitive Status in A Low‐Income Sample

Maternal parenting behaviors during a mother–infant play interaction were examined in a sample of 160 low‐income mothers and their 15‐month‐old infants. Maternal responsive/didactic, intrusive, and negative behaviors were coded from videotapes and examined in relation to mothers’ age, marital status, stressful life events, and depressive symptoms, and infants’ cognitive scores at 15 and 25 months. Younger maternal age and increases in stressful life events were associated with increases in mothers’ negative behaviors whereas being married was positively associated with mothers’ responsive/didactic behaviors and inversely associated with their negative and intrusive behaviors. Mothers’ depressive symptoms were inversely associated with both responsive/didactic and intrusive behaviors and predicted lower cognitive scores in infants at 15 months, but not 25 months. Maternal responsive/didactic behaviors predicted infant cognitive scores at both ages after controlling for maternal characteristics and other parenting behaviors. Intrusiveness moderated associations between both responsive/didactic and negative parenting behaviors and infant 25‐month cognition. Maternal age, marital status, psychological resources, and contextual sources of stress play a central role in the quality of parenting among low‐income mothers, and positive mother–infant interactions are strong predictors of infants’ early cognitive status.