Negative cognitive style and looming cognitive style synergistically predict stress generation

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that cognitive vulnerabilities to depression or anxiety may lead individuals to generate negative interpersonal life events. However, there has been no study to date that examines the effects of co-occurring vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety. In a sample of 304 participants, we examined the potential interaction of co-occurring negative cognitive style, a vulnerability to depression and looming cognitive style, vulnerability to anxiety. Results indicate that co-occurring cognitive vulnerabilities synergistically predict higher levels of negative interpersonal life events six weeks later, even when controlling for initial levels of stressful life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Thus, co-occurring vulnerabilities may have stronger stress generating effects than would be expected from the additive effects of each vulnerability considered separately. This finding highlights the importance of examining cognitive vulnerabilities as interactive effects rather than as individual vulnerabilities.     

Mother-child relationships of children with ADHD: the role of maternal depressive symptoms and depression-related distortions

We investigated the DepressionDistortion hypothesis by examining the effects of maternal depressive symptoms on cross-informant discrepancies in reports of child behavior problems and several measures of parent–child relationship. The sample included ninety-six 6 to 10-year-old children diagnosed with ADHD-Combined Type, and their mothers, who provided baseline data before participating in a randomized clinical trial. Measures incorporated child characteristics, self-reports of maternal depressive symptoms, parenting practices, and laboratory mother–child interactions. Elevations in maternal depressive symptoms were associated with maternal reports of negative parenting style but not with observed laboratory interactions. Mothers' levels of depressive symptoms predicted negative biases in their reports of their child's ADHD symptoms, general behavior problems, and their own negative parenting style. Whereas levels of depressive symptoms did not predict observed parenting behaviors, maternal distortions did predict problematic parent–child interactions. Exploratory analyses showed a marginally significant mediation effect of the relationship between maternal depressive symptomatology and reports of negative parenting by depressive distortions. We discuss implications of linkages between depressive symptoms in mothers, depression-related distortions, and mother–child relationships for research and intervention in developmental psychopathology.     

Pathways to childhood depressive symptoms: the role of social, cognitive, and genetic risk factors

Childhood depressive conditions have been explored from multiple theoretical approaches but with few empirical attempts to address the interrelationships among these different domains and their combined effects. In the present study, the authors examined different pathways through which social, cognitive, and genetic risk factors may be expressed to influence depressive symptoms in 300 pairs of child twins from a longitudinal study. Path analysis supported several indirect routes. First, risks associated with living in a step- or single-parent family and punitive parenting did not directly influence depressive outcome but were instead mediated through maternal depressive symptoms and child negative attributional style. Second, the effects of negative attributional style on depressive outcome were greatly exacerbated in the presence of precipitating negative life events. Third, independent of these social and cognitive risk mechanisms, modest genetic effects were also implicated in symptoms, with some indication that these risks are expressed through exposure to negative stressors. Together, these routes accounted for approximately 13% of total phenotypic variance in depressive symptoms. Theoretical and analytical implications of these results are discussed in the context of several design-related caveats.     

Sex differences in domain-specific depressogenic cognitive responses to negative and positive life events

Maladaptive cognitive responses to stressful life events represent well-replicated risk factors for depression. Research indicates that stressful life events that are dependent on the individual to occur or are interpersonal may generate more maladaptive cognitive responses than those that are independent and/or non-interpersonal. The current study examined the roles of sex and life event domains in eliciting depressogenic cognitive responses. Participants were 212 (71% female) undergraduate students who completed seven weekly questionnaires on participant-identified most negative and most positive life events over the previous 7 days. Additionally, participants reported levels of brooding and cognitive style in response to the most negative event and levels of positive rumination and dampening in response to the most positive event. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVAs. Results indicated that females engaged in greater brooding regardless of event dependency. In addition, dependent and interpersonal life events generated greater brooding while dependent and non-interpersonal negative events generated greater negative cognitive style. An interaction between sex and domain was observed for dampening positive life events, such that males did not differ between interpersonal and non-interpersonal life events while females were more likely to dampen following interpersonal life events than non-interpersonal events.     

在美国样本中母亲抑郁症状与儿童退缩的关系:教养行为的中介作用

本研究通过使用美国国家儿童健康与人类发育研究所的纵向研究数据建立分层线性模型,探究在儿童的早期发展中,母亲抑郁症状对儿童的社会性退缩的影响,以及母亲的教养行为在这一关系中的中介作用,结果发现：（1）在儿童24~54个月期间,随着母亲抑郁症状的升高,儿童的社会性退缩也随之升高;（2）母亲抑郁症对儿童社会性退缩的影响存在着性别差异,与女孩相比,男孩的社会性退缩更容易受到母亲抑郁症状的影响;（3）在男孩中,消极的教养行为在母亲抑郁症状与男孩的社会性退缩之间起到了中介作用,而在女孩中,这一中介作用并不显著。     

Affiliative and Instrumental Marital Discord, Mother's Negative Affect, and Children's Negative Interactions with Unfamiliar Peers

Indices of marital discord and mother-child affective processes were used to predict levels of negativity children displayed with unfamiliar peers. Thirty-nine mothers and their 5-year-olds were observed with 5–7 other mother-child dyads during a 30-minute free play session. Mother and child negativity were coded and two types of marital discord were assessed via mother self-report: affiliative discord (e.g., distress due to the lack of affiliative behaviors in the marriage) and instrumental discord (e.g., disagreements about the accomplishment of marital tasks, such as finances, time management, and goal setting). Affiliative discord was found to relate to the child's negativity with unfamiliar peers, but instrumental discord was not. Furthermore, maternal negativity moderated the link between marital discord and child's negativity with peers, such that high levels of affiliative discord combined with heightened maternal negativity was associated with child negativity. Practical implications are discussed.     

父母教养方式对子女焦虑的影响：认知情绪调节策略与男性化特质的中介作用

本研究通过对269名在校大学生进行父母教养方式、情绪调节策略的使用、男性化特质和焦虑水平的测查,探讨了父母教养方式对子女焦虑产生影响的可能机制。结果发现,研究建构的模型对焦虑的整体解释率为26%。父母教养方式主要通过三种途径影响子女焦虑：（1）直接对子女焦虑产生影响;（2）以灾难化和积极重评这两种情绪调节策略为中介,间接影响子女焦虑;（3）促成子女男性化特质的形成,该特质通过积极重评策略的完全中介作用,间接影响子女焦虑。     

Parenting,corpus callosum,and executive function in preschool children

In this longitudinal population-based study (N?=?544), we investigated whether early parenting and corpus callosum length predict child executive function abilities at 4 years of age. The length of the corpus callosum in infancy was measured using postnatal cranial ultrasounds at 6 weeks of age. At 3 years, two aspects of parenting were observed: maternal sensitivity during a teaching task and maternal discipline style during a discipline task. Parents rated executive function problems at 4 years of age in five domains of inhibition, shifting, emotional control, working memory, and planning/organizing, using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version. Maternal sensitivity predicted less executive function problems at preschool age. A significant interaction was found between corpus callosum length in infancy and maternal use of positive discipline to determine child inhibition problems: The association between a relatively shorter corpus callosum in infancy and child inhibition problems was reduced in children who experienced more positive discipline. Our results point to the buffering potential of positive parenting for children with biological vulnerability.     

儿童早期情绪性对学步期父母养育方式的影响

运用追踪设计和分层回归分析, 探究了281名儿童6个月和14个月时的受限后沮丧、恐惧和微笑大笑如何影响24个月时父母养育方式, 以及这种影响是否随儿童年龄增长而变化。研究结果显示:(1)6个月时, 仅受限后沮丧能正向预测24个月时母亲严厉的养育方式, 14个月时受限后沮丧仍能正向预测母亲的严厉, 恐惧也能正向预测母亲的保护担忧, 而微笑大笑能正向预测母亲的接受, 负向预测母亲的严厉和保护担忧;(2)6个月时, 儿童的受限后沮丧能正向预测24个月时父亲的严厉和保护担忧, 14个月儿童的受限后沮丧仍能正向预测24个月时父亲的严厉。     

Relations between Parenting Stress,Parenting Style,and Child Executive Functioning for Children with ADHD or Autism

Relations among parenting stress, parenting style, and child executive functioning for children with disabilities are not easily teased apart. The current study explored these relations among 82 children and adolescents age 7–18: 21 with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 33 with autism spectrum disorder, and 28 typically developing. Results indicated that children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder had more executive functioning deficits, and their parents reported more parenting stress and a greater use of permissive parenting, compared to typically developing children. In general, increased parenting stress was associated with greater use of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles, as well as more problems with behavior regulation for children. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were associated with poorer child executive functioning. Child diagnostic group (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, typically developing) moderated relations between parent stress and child functioning, and between parenting style and child functioning. Implications for intervention with families of children with disabilities are discussed.     

Cognitive vulnerability to depression: a taxometric analysis

Although there is increasing support for the hypothesis that negative cognitive styles contribute vulnerability to depression, it remains unclear how best to conceptualize the heterogeneity in cognitive vulnerability to depression. Specifically, does this heterogeneity reflect quantitative or qualitative differences among individuals? The goal of this study was to address this question by examining whether the underlying structure of cognitive vulnerability to depression is best conceptualized as dimensional or categorical. Taxometric analyses provided consistent support for the dimensional nature of negative cognitive styles. It appears, therefore, that cognitive vulnerability to depression is best conceptualized as a dimensional construct, present to a greater or lesser extent in all individuals. Despite this, the strength of the relationship between negative cognitive styles and depressive symptoms does appear to vary as a function of where along the cognitive style continuum one falls.     

Depressogenic cognitive styles: predictive validity, information processing and personality characteristics, and developmental origins.

Two of the major cognitive theories of depression, the theory of Beck [Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper & Row. and Beck, A. T. (1987) Cognitive models of depression. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: an International Quarterly, 1, 5-37] and the hopelessness theory [Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, (1989) Hopelessness depression: a theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372], include the hypothesis that particular negative cognitive styles increase individuals' likelihood of developing episodes of depression, in particular, a cognitively mediated subtype of depression, when they encounter negative life events. The Temple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project is a two-site, prospective longitudinal study designed to test this cognitive vulnerability hypothesis, as well as the other etiological hypotheses of Beck's and the hopelessness theories of depression. In this article, based on CVD project findings to date, we review evidence that the hypothesized depressogenic cognitive styles do indeed confer vulnerability for clinically significant depressive disorders and suicidality. In addition, we present evidence regarding moderators of these depressogenic cognitive styles, the information processing and personality correlates of these styles and the possible developmental antecedents of these styles. We end with a consideration of future research directions and the clinical implications of cognitive vulnerability to depression.     

The relationship between negative parenting and child and maternal temperament

The purpose of the present study was to examine how negative parenting, namely coercive and abusive parenting, relates to maternal and child temperamental characteristics, based on Belsky’s model of parenting. In addition to the unique effects of child temperamental characteristics (approach, perceptual sensitivity, soothability, persistence, and reactivity), we investigated how child temperamental characteristics play a moderating role between maternal temperamental characteristics (negative affect, effortful control, extraversion and orienting sensitivity) and negative parenting. Participants were 209 mothers of preschool children (M_age = 50.01 months, SD = 5.75) from 48 child care centers across the capital city of Turkey. Two sets of hierarchical regression analyses showed that coercive parenting was predicted by child reactivity, perceptual sensitivity, maternal negative affect, and effortful control. In addition, maternal SES and negative affect were related to abusive parenting. Furthermore, interaction between maternal extraversion and child’s persistence predicted coercive parenting. For children with high levels of persistence, maternal extraversion levels did not make any difference in the level of abusive parenting. However, for children with low levels of persistence, mothers who had high levels of extraversion were more likely to display coercive parenting. Consistent with Belsky’s model, both child and maternal characteristics were related to parenting. While both maternal and child characteristics were associated with coercive parenting, only maternal negative effect was associated with abusive parenting.

     

Negative cognitive styles, dysfunctional attitudes, and the remitted depression paradigm: a search for the elusive cognitive vulnerability to depression factor among remitted depressives

Results from studies using a behavioral high-risk design and approximations to it generally have corroborated the cognitive vulnerability hypothesis of depression, whereas results from remitted depression studies typically have not. Suspecting that design features of previously conducted remitted designs likely precluded them from detecting maladaptive cognitive patterns, the authors conducted a study featuring the remitted design that has been successful in studies of a biological vulnerability for depression. Participants' current depressive symptoms, negative cognitive styles (hopelessness theory), dysfunctional attitudes (Beck's theory), and lifetime prevalence of clinically significant depression were assessed. Participants who had remitted from an episode of clinically significant depression had more negative cognitive styles, but not greater levels of dysfunctional attitudes, than did never depressed individuals.     

Parenting behaviour as a mediator between young children's negative emotionality and their anxiety/depression

The goal of this longitudinal study was to examine observed paternal and maternal control (psychological control and autonomy granting) and support (rejection and emotional warmth) as mediators of the relation between children's negative emotionality at 3.5 years of age and depression and anxiety problems at 4.5 years. For 35 children, 60‐min unstructured parent–child interactions were rated at 4.5 years. Results indicated that maternal rejection mediated the relation between children's negative emotionality and their later anxiety/depression. Higher levels of child negative emotionality predicted more psychological control in mothers, but did not predict any parenting behaviours in fathers. Higher levels of paternal autonomy granting were associated with more child anxiety/depression. Unexpectedly, however, more maternal emotional warmth was related to higher levels of child anxiety/depression. The findings offer new insights to guide future research on the (mediating) role of parenting behaviours in the relation between children's negative emotionality and their internalizing problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive styles and life events interact to predict bipolar and unipolar symptomatology

This study examined the interaction of cognitive style (as assessed self-report and information-processing battery) and stressful life events in predicting the clinician-rated depressive and manic symptomatology of participants with Research Diagnostic Criteria lifetime diagnoses of bipolar disorder (n = 49), unipolar depression (n = 97), or no lifetime diagnosis (n = 23). Bipolar and unipolar participants' attributional styles, dysfunctional attitudes, and negative self-referent information processing as assessed at Time 1 interacted significantly with the number of negative life events that occurred between Times 1 and 2 to predict increases in depressive symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Within the bipolar group, participants' Time 1 attributional styles and dysfunctional attitudes interacted significantly, and their self-referent information processing interacted marginally, with intervening life events to predict increases in manic symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. These findings provide support for the applicability of cognitive vulnerability-stress theories of depression to bipolar spectrum disorders.     

Relations of Parenting and Negative Life Events to Cognitive Diatheses for Depression in Children

In a sample of 299 children (grades 2, 4, and 6), we examined parenting and negative life events as predictors of depressive cognitions, specifically low self-perceived competence, depressive cognitive schemas, and depressogenic attributional style. We also examined developmental trends in these relations. Children completed measures of parenting, negative life events, and depressive cognitions. Parents also completed measures of parenting and negative life events. Consistent with our hypotheses, negative parenting and negative life events corresponded with higher levels of depressive cognitions, whereas positive parenting corresponded with lower levels of depressive cognitions. The relations between negative parenting and negative automatic thoughts were stronger for older children. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

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.     

Do Negative Cognitive Styles Confer Vulnerability to Depression?

According to the cognitive-vulnerability hypothesis of depression, negative cognitive styles confer vulnerability to depression when people confront negative life events. In this article, we present evidence that negative cognitive styles do indeed confer vulnerability to clinically significant depressive disorders and suicidality and discuss possible developmental antecedents of cognitive vulnerability to depression. We consider the issue of stability versus change in cognitive vulnerability to depression and discuss the broader implications of the cognitive-vulnerability findings for mental and physical health.     

Predictors of Attributional Style Change in Children

A number of studies have supported the hypothesis that negative attributional styles may confer vulnerability to the development of depression. The goal of this study was to explore factors that may contribute to the development of negative attributional styles in children. As hypothesized, elevated levels of depressive symptoms and hopelessness at the initial assessment predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the 6-month follow-up period. In addition, elevated levels of verbal victimization occurring between the 2 assessments, as well as that occurring in the 6 months preceding the initial assessment, prospectively predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the follow-up. Further, initial depressive symptoms and verbal victimization during the follow-up continued to significantly predict attributional style change even when the overlap among the predictors was statistically controlled. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, neither parent-reported levels of overall negative life events nor parents' attributions for their children's events predicted changes in children's attributional styles.