Impact of coping with interpersonal stress on the risk of depression in a Japanese sample: a focus on reassessing coping.

Tsukasa Kato

doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1111-7

Abstract

Reassessing coping, a concept first proposed in Asia, refers to efforts to wait patiently for an appropriate opportunity to act or for a change or improvement in a situation, and can be observed in individuals facing stressful relationship events. The main purpose of the present study was to determine if reassessing coping would be associated with a lower risk of depression. The author examined the relationships between depression risk using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and coping strategies for interpersonal stressors, including reassessing coping, in a sample of 1,912 Japanese college students. In our sample, the proportions of women and men with depressive symptoms were 55.28% (95% confidence intervals (CIs) [52.35, 58.20]) and 46.08% (95% CIs [42.63, 49.52]), respectively, using the conventional CES-D cut-off score of 16. A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that reassessing coping was significantly associated with a lower risk of depression (OR = 0.92, 95% CIs [0.89, 0.95]), after adjusting for gender. Distancing coping (strategies to actively damage, disrupt, or dissolve a stressful relationship) and constructive coping (strategies to improve, maintain, or sustain a relationship without irritating others) were significantly associated with a greater depression risk. Reassessing coping for interpersonal stressors was associated with a low risk of depression among Japanese college students.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1111-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide
disabilityadjusted life years (DALYs) are calculated as the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality in the population and the years of life lived with disability (YLDs) for people living with the health condition or its consequences (WHO 2001)
The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between depression risk using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and coping strategies in a large sample of Japanese college students

Summary

Introduction

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Analyses by the WHO (2001) revealed that among individuals aged 15–44 years worldwide, unipolar depressive disorders were the leading causes of burden among all disease, accounting for 8.6% of total disabilityadjusted life years (DALYs) and 16.4% of years of life lived with disability (YLDs). Given the considerable burden of depression, it is necessary to examine factors contributing to the risk or recurrence of depression. Vrshek-Schallhorn et al (2014) found a gene environment interaction effect between the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and interpersonal stressful events on risk of major depressive episode onset as assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders; in contrast, noninterpersonal stressful events showed no such interaction effect. According to theories of depression vulnerability, interpersonal stressful events trigger depressive episodes and the development of depression, for

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