Abstract
ABSTRACTDifficulty remembering specific events from the personal past, known as overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM), may be a marker of vulnerability to adolescent depression but little is known about how overgeneral AM arises in this age group. Stressful life events (SLEs) are strongly implicated in the onset of depression and are considered important in theoretical work on AM. We investigated whether exposure to lifetime and recent SLEs contributed to the development of overgeneral AM in a sample of adolescents at high familial risk of depression (n = 257) and examined the effects of gender and memory valence. Whether AM mediated the relationship between SLEs and MDD was also assessed. Exposure to a higher number of lifetime SLEs was associated with an increase in specific AMs. Associations of recent SLEs with AM differed by gender. For girls, more recent SLEs were associated with more overgeneral AMs. For boys, more recent SLEs were associated with fewer overgeneral AMs and more specific AMs. AM did not mediate the relationship between SLEs and subsequent DSM-IV depressive symptom count. Results suggest a complex relationship between AM and SLEs and that overgeneral AM and SLEs may have independent effects on future depression.
Highlights
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common, chronic condition and is the leading cause of disability worldwide (Friedrich, 2017; World Health Organization, 2017)
Research into recent stressful life events (SLEs) is warranted as they are common and are thought to play a causal role in MDD (Kendler & Gardner, 2010; Kendler, Karkowski, & Prescott, 1999), including in samples at high familial risk of depression (Goodyer et al, 1993; Rice et al, 2017). Both recent and lifetime SLEs play a role in depression, stronger effects are seen between SLEs and MDD when they occur in the same developmental period (Shanahan, Copeland, Costello, & Angold, 2011); different effects may be seen between SLEs and overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM) depending on recency of the events
Overgeneral AM was correlated with depression symptoms: questionnaire depressive symptoms at Wave 2 (r = .173, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = .048, .292, p = .007) and Wave 3 (r = .160, 95% CI = .035, .280, p = .013) and DSM-IV depressive symptom count at Wave 3 (r = .144, 95% CI = .018, .265, p = .024)
Summary
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common, chronic condition and is the leading cause of disability worldwide (Friedrich, 2017; World Health Organization, 2017). One prominent theory proposes that overgeneral AM arises through capture and rumination, functional avoidance and impaired executive control (CaRFA-X model; Williams et al, 2007) This theory proposes that individuals retrieving a specific memory will use a generative retrieval process which starts at a broad, generic, level before moving down towards event-specific knowledge. Research into recent SLEs is warranted as they are common and are thought to play a causal role in MDD (Kendler & Gardner, 2010; Kendler, Karkowski, & Prescott, 1999), including in samples at high familial risk of depression (Goodyer et al, 1993; Rice et al, 2017). Both recent and lifetime SLEs play a role in depression, stronger effects are seen between SLEs and MDD when they occur in the same developmental period (Shanahan, Copeland, Costello, & Angold, 2011); different effects may be seen between SLEs and overgeneral AM depending on recency of the events
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