Early Adversity and the Prospective Prediction of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in Adolescents

The current study was a prospective exploration of the specificity of early childhood adversities as predictors of anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents. Participants were 816 adolescents (414~males, 402 females) with diagnostic information collected at age 15; information on early adversities had been collected from the mothers during pregnancy, at birth, age 6 months, and age 5~years for a related study. Adolescents with pure anxiety disorders were compared with adolescents with pure depressive disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia), and these groups were compared to never-ill controls. Analyses controlled for gender and maternal depression and anxiety disorders. Results indicated that adolescents with anxiety disorders were more likely than depressed youth to have been exposed to various early stressors, such as maternal prenatal stress, multiple maternal partner changes, and more total adversities, whereas few early childhood variables predicted depressive disorders. Even when current family stressors at age 15 were controlled, early adversity variables again significantly predicted anxiety disorders. Results suggest that anxiety disorders may be more strongly related to early stress exposure, while depressive disorders may be related to more proximal stressors or to early stressors not assessed in the current study.     

Evaluating microcomputer interactive survey software

Software packages for microcomputer interactive questionnaires are becoming readily available to a wide group of business researchers. Potential users have a series of interrelated decisions regarding the most appropriate software and hardware for their specific needs. This article outlines important features that researchers must consider in their decisions under five dimensions: Survey research, question presentation, documentation, hardware, and monetary.This project was supported by a faculty grant from the Educational Improvement Fund of the University of Hawaii awarded to the first author. Portions of this paper were presented to the American Marketing Association 3rd Annual Microcomputers in Marketing Education Workshop at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, October 26–28, 1986.     

Preferences of older adults and experts for policies and services in group living facilities

The Policy and Program Information Form-Ideal Form (POLIF-I) was developed to assess preferences of older adults for the policies and services of group living facilities. Compared with older community residents (n = 205), congregate apartment residents (n = 229) prefer facilities that have higher behavioral standards, deemphasize supportive services and formal avenues for resident influence, and emphasize privacy. In contrast to older respondents, experts (n = 44) prefer settings with lower behavioral standards, more supportive services, more resident input, and more privacy. Sociodemographic characteristics (marital status, occupation, education, age, gender) and functional ability are weakly associated with the policy and service preferences of older respondents. The POLIF-I has several applications, including examination of the congruence between residents' preferences and the actual policies and services of group living facilities.     

Expanding stress generation theory: test of a transdiagnostic model

Originally formulated to understand the recurrence of depressive disorders, the stress generation hypothesis has recently been applied in research on anxiety and externalizing disorders. Results from these investigations, in combination with findings of extensive comorbidity between depression and other mental disorders, suggest the need for an expansion of stress generation models to include the stress generating effects of transdiagnostic pathology as well as those of specific syndromes. Employing latent variable modeling techniques to parse the general and specific elements of commonly co-occurring Axis I syndromes, the current study examined the associations of transdiagnostic internalizing and externalizing dimensions with stressful life events over time. Analyses revealed that, after adjusting for the covariation between the dimensions, internalizing was a significant predictor of interpersonal dependent stress, whereas externalizing was a significant predictor of noninterpersonal dependent stress. Neither latent dimension was associated with the occurrence of independent, or fateful, stressful life events. At the syndrome level, once variance due to the internalizing factor was partialed out, unipolar depression contributed incrementally to the generation of interpersonal dependent stress. In contrast, the presence of panic disorder produced a "stress inhibition" effect, predicting reduced exposure to interpersonal dependent stress. Additionally, dysthymia was associated with an excess of noninterpersonal dependent stress. The latent variable modeling framework used here is discussed in terms of its potential as an integrative model for stress generation research.     

Elevated Appraisals of the Negative Impact of Naturally Occurring Life Events: A Risk Factor for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders

The tendency to appraise naturally occurring life events (LEs) as having high negative impact may be a predisposing factor for the development of depression and anxiety disorders. In the current study, appraisals of the negative impact of recent LEs were examined in relationship to depressive and anxiety disorders in a sample of 653 adolescents who were administered diagnostic and life stress interviews at ages 15 and 20. Participants’ appraisals of the negative impact of LEs reported at age 15 were statistically adjusted using investigator-based ratings to control for objective differences across LEs. Higher appraisals of the negative impact of LEs were associated with both past and current depressive and anxiety disorders at age 15 and predicted subsequent first onsets of depressive and anxiety disorders occurring between ages 15 and 20. In addition, appraisals of the negative impact of LEs were particularly elevated among those experiencing both a depressive and anxiety disorder over the course of the study. The findings suggest that systematically elevated appraisals of the negative impact of LEs are a predisposing factor for depression and anxiety disorders and may represent a specific risk factor for co-morbid depression and anxiety in mid-adolescence and early adulthood.     

Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults

The present study investigated whether an intervention aimed to increase cognitive ability in older adults also changes the personality trait of openness to experience. Older adults completed a 16-week program in inductive reasoning training supplemented by weekly crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Changes in openness to experience were modeled across four assessments over 30 weeks using latent growth curve models. Results indicate that participants in the intervention condition increased in the trait of openness compared with a waitlist control group. The study is one of the first to demonstrate that personality traits can change through nonpsychopharmocological interventions.     

Incremental Validity of Components of Mindfulness in the Prediction of Satisfaction with Life and Depression

Self-report measures of mindfulness have consistently demonstrated positive relationships with well-being and inverse relationships with depression symptoms. The goal of this study was to extend the existing literature to include a test of the incremental validity of the components of mindfulness (as measured by the four factors of the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills [KIMS]; Baer et al. Assessment, 11, 191–206, 2004) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848, 2003) in the prediction of satisfaction with life (relative to self-esteem) and depression (relative to negative cognitions) among a sample of 365 college students. Results revealed only KIMS Observe accounted for a significant amount variance relative to self-esteem in the prediction of satisfaction with life, and in the prediction of depression symptoms, only KIMS Accept without Judgment accounted for a significant amount of variance relative to negative cognitions. These results are discussed in relation to the measurement of mindfulness and methods used to assess the validity of these scales.     

Central synaptic mechanisms underlie short-term olfactory habituation in Drosophila larvae

Naive Drosophila larvae show vigorous chemotaxis toward many odorants including ethyl acetate (EA). Chemotaxis toward EA is substantially reduced after a 5-min pre-exposure to the odorant and recovers with a half-time of ～20 min. An analogous behavioral decrement can be induced without odorant-receptor activation through channelrhodopsin-based, direct photoexcitation of odorant sensory neurons (OSNs). The neural mechanism of short-term habituation (STH) requires the (1) rutabaga adenylate cyclase; (2) transmitter release from predominantly GABAergic local interneurons (LNs); (3) GABA-A receptor function in projection neurons (PNs) that receive excitatory inputs from OSNs; and (4) NMDA-receptor function in PNs. These features of STH cannot be explained by simple sensory adaptation and, instead, point to plasticity of olfactory synapses in the antennal lobe as the underlying mechanism. Our observations suggest a model in which NMDAR-dependent depression of the OSN-PN synapse and/or NMDAR-dependent facilitation of inhibitory transmission from LNs to PNs contributes substantially to short-term habituation.     

Language in dialogue: when confederates might be hazardous to your data

Experiments that aim to model language processing in spoken dialogue contexts often use confederates as speakers or addressees. However, the decision of whether to use a confederate, and of precisely how to deploy one, is shaped by researchers’ explicit theories and implicit assumptions about the nature of dialogue. When can a confederate fulfill the role of conversational partner without changing the nature of the dialogue itself? We survey the benefits and risks of using confederates in studies of language in dialogue contexts, identifying four concerns that appear to guide how confederates are deployed. We then discuss several studies that have addressed these concerns differently—and, in some cases, have found different results. We conclude with recommendations for how to weigh the benefits and risks of using experimental confederates in dialogue studies: Confederates are best used when an experimental hypothesis concerns responses to unusual behaviors or low-frequency linguistic forms and when the experimental task calls for the confederate partner to take the initiative as speaker. Confederates can be especially risky in the addressee role, especially if their nonverbal behavior is uncontrolled and if they know more than is warranted by the experimental task.