Depressive Symptoms In Girls Research Articles

Body dissatisfaction, maternal appraisal, and depressive symptoms in Hong Kong adolescents

Body dissatisfaction, its risk factors and association with depressed mood have been well investigated in the West. However, more studies are needed to examine further the relation between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms and the factors influencing body dissatisfaction in non-Western cultures. The present study examined in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents the relation between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms, and the relation of maternal appraisal of their adolescent's figure to the adolescent's body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms. We obtained information from 379 boys and 254 girls about their body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms. Their mothers provided information about their appraisal of their adolescent's body shape and size compared to ideal. Body dissatisfaction was related to depressive symptoms in girls (B = 2.58, p <.01), but not in boys (B = -0.08, p >.10). Negative maternal appraisal did not have direct effects on adolescents' depressive symptoms (B = 0.14, p =.75), but the association between negative maternal appraisal and body dissatisfaction was significantly stronger in adolescents whose ideal was smaller than they perceived themselves to be (B = 0.32, p <.01) than those whose ideal was larger than their own perception (B = 0.14, p < .01). Our findings suggest that maternal appraisal had indirect effects on mood, acting through adolescents' body dissatisfaction, and that body dissatisfaction may be a sex-specific risk factor for depression. This study points to the need for testing and adapting programs to reduce body dissatisfaction particularly in girls at risk for depression, and to raise mothers' awareness of the link between their negative appraisals and their adolescents' body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms.

Individual differences in biological stress responses moderate the contribution of early peer victimization to subsequent depressive symptoms.

Some children who are exposed to early peer victimization become depressed, whereas others are resilient. Understanding individual differences in responses to early adversity, such as victimization, is critical for developing both comprehensive theoretical models and effective interventions. This study examined whether individual differences in biological stress responses (i.e., activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system) moderated the contribution of peer victimization to depressive symptoms across a 1-year period. Children (N = 132; M age = 9.46 years, SD = 0.33) completed measures of peer victimization and depressive symptoms, and rated their ruminative responses (i.e., persistent thoughts about negative task-related emotion and experiences) to a laboratory-based social challenge task involving two conflict-of-interests situations with an unfamiliar peer. Children's saliva was collected prior to, and following, participation in the task, and was later assayed for cortisol and alpha amylase [sAA]. Victimization interacted with levels of cortisol measured in anticipation of the task to predict task-related rumination and depressive symptoms 1 year later, adjusting for initial symptoms. Specifically, victimization served as a risk factor for rumination and depressive symptoms in children with heightened but not dampened anticipatory cortisol; yet, heightened anticipatory cortisol was protective against rumination and depressive symptoms in low-victimized children. Victimization also predicted subsequent depressive symptoms in girls with high sAA reactivity across the task. This study advances contemporary theory and research by implicating individual variation in biological stress responses as one determinant of sensitivity to the mental health effects of early adversity.

PW01-58 - Association between depressive symptoms and pubertal status in boys and girls from a UK cohort

ObjectivesTo examine the association between advancing pubertal status and the emergence of depressive symptoms in boys and girls from a UK cohort.MethodsSelf-reported depressive symptoms were assessed using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire at three time-points (10.5, 13 and 14 years). We derived trait measures of depressive symptom level at each time-point using confirmatory factor analysis and compared the 3 depressive symptom factors with pubertal status (using regular self-reported Tanner assessments from 8-14 years) separately in boys (n=2902) and girls (n=2886). Main effects were estimated, adjusted for time lag between assessment of pubertal status and depressive symptoms, and then further adjusted for confounders (social class, maternal education, parental separation, financial problems, housing tenure).ResultsFor girls at age 10.5 years, there was little evidence of a relationship between pubertal status and depressive symptoms, with an increase in symptoms of 0.025 SD's for each additional pubertal stage (indicated by Tanner stages 1 through 5) for breast development and 0.023 SD's for each additional stage for pubic-hair development. With increasing age, the association between pubertal stage and depressive symptoms in girls strengthened. At age 14 years, advancement of each pubertal stage represented an increase in 0.13 SD's of depressive symptoms for breast development and 0.10 SD's for pubic hair development. For boys, there was no clear relationship between pubertal development and depressive symptoms at any time-point.ConclusionsMore advanced pubertal status was associated with an increased level of depressive symptoms in girls in early/mid adolescence but not boys.

Maternal Attachment and Depressive Symptoms in Urban Adolescents: The Influence of Coping Strategies and Gender

The current study examined coping strategies as mediators of the relation between maternal attachment and depressive symptoms in a sample of urban youth. Participants included 393 adolescents (M age = 12.03, SD = .85) participating in a larger study of the impact of stressful life experiences on low-income urban youth. Participants completed self-report measures of maternal attachment, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms at two time points. Results indicated that attachment was not a significant predictor of depression over time. Path analyses demonstrated limited support for a model in which higher maternal attachment predicted higher active coping, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms at Time 2. Maternal attachment was a significant predictor of higher support-seeking coping, avoidant, and distraction coping. Higher maternal attachment predicted greater use of active coping strategies for boys but not for girls, and greater use of active coping strategies predicted fewer depressive symptoms for girls but not for boys.

Social–Emotional Problems in Early Childhood and the Development of Depressive Symptoms in School-Age Children

Research Findings: The present longitudinal study investigated whether a range of social–emotional difficulties in early childhood predict the development of depressive symptoms in middle childhood. Participants were 56 children and their teachers. Teachers' reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained during preschool, and children's displays of negative affect were observed through classroom videotapes in preschool. Children's self-reports of depressive symptoms were collected approximately three and a half years later. Teachers' ratings of social problems and atypical behaviors were positively associated with later depressive symptoms. Teachers' ratings of rule breaking and observed negative affect in preschool were stronger predictors of later depressive symptoms in girls than in boys. Findings point to social non-conformity as an important feature in the developmental course of depressive symptoms. Results lend support to a developmental psychopathology framework, showing change over time across types of social–emotional difficulties in gender-specific directions. Practice or Policy: Findings underscore the role that preschool teachers and classroom observation could play in identifying early risk for depressive symptoms. Results suggest the possible utility of early screening programs for at-risk preschool-aged children. Moreover, results could inform school-based intervention or prevention programs targeting internalizing symptoms, an under-recognized area of children's mental health.

Equanimity to excess: inhibiting the expression of negative emotion is associated with depression symptoms in girls.

Emotion dysregulation is often invoked as an important construct for understanding risk for psychopathology, but specificity of domains of emotion regulation in clinically relevant research is often lacking. In the present study Gross' (2001) model of emotion regulation is used to generate hypotheses regarding the relative contribution of two specific types of deficits in emotion regulation, inhibited and disinhibited expression of negative emotion, to individual differences in depressive symptoms in preadolescent girls. A sample of 232 9-year-old girls was recruited from a community based study. Depression symptoms were assessed via diagnostic interview. The mother and interviewer rated the girl's level of impairment. Questionnaires and observations were used to assess inhibited and disinhibited expression of negative emotion. Differences in inhibited expression of negative emotion typically explained more variance in depressive symptoms and impairment across informants than did disinhibited expression of negative emotion. Although disinhibited expression of negative emotion is associated with depression and impairment, inhibited expression appeared to be a necessary ingredient, suggesting that inhibited expression may be a particularly relevant deficit in emotion regulation in the development of depression in females.

Subthreshold Symptoms of Depression in Preadolescent Girls Are Stable and Predictive of Depressive Disorders

ObjectiveGiven the risk for adolescent depression in girls to lead to a chronic course of mental illness, prevention of initial onset could have a large impact on reducing chronicity. If symptoms of depression that emerge during childhood were stable and predictive of later depressive disorders and impairment, then secondary prevention of initial onset of depressive disorders would be possible. MethodDrawing from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, an existing longitudinal study, 232 nine-year-old girls were recruited for the present study, half of whom screened high on a measure of depression at age 8 years. Girls were interviewed about depressive symptoms using a diagnostic interview at ages 9, 10, and 11 years. Caregivers and interviewers rated impairment in each year. ResultsThe stability coefficients for DSM-IV symptom counts for a 1- to 2-year interval were in the moderate range (i.e., intraclass coefficients of 0.40-0.59 for continuous symptom counts and Kendall τ-b coefficients of 0.34-0.39 for symptom level stability). Depressive disorders were also relatively stable at this age. Poverty moderated the stability, but race and pubertal stage did not. Among the girls who did not meet criteria for a depressive disorder at age 9 years, the odds of meeting criteria for depressive disorders and for demonstrating impairment at age 10 or 11 years increased by 1.9 and 1.7, respectively, for every increase in the number of depression symptoms. ConclusionsEarly-emerging symptoms of depression in girls are stable and predictive of depressive disorders and impairment. The results suggest that secondary prevention of depression in girls may be accomplished by targeting subthreshold symptoms manifest during childhood.

Spirituality and Depressive Symptoms in a School-Based Sample of Adolescents: A Longitudinal Examination of Mediated and Moderated Effects

Purpose To prospectively examine whether personal agency beliefs and direct coping mediate the association between spirituality and depressive symptoms in a school-based sample of adolescents, and whether gender, race, or grade level moderate this model. Method Students ( N = 1096) from sixth through ninth grades in a northeastern public school system were administered self-report instruments in group format at baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up. Demographic variables and constructs of spirituality, personal agency, direct coping, and depressive symptoms were assessed. Results Structural equation modeling was used to examine the longitudinal associations among the constructs while controlling for socioeconomic status and baseline depressive symptoms. For the total sample, the model predicted 21% of the variance in depressive symptoms over 1 year. The model was moderated by gender but not by race or grade level. The model explained 28% of the variance in depressive symptoms for girls and 16% of the variance in depressive symptoms for boys. Moreover, there was an indirect effect of spirituality on depressive symptoms for girls but not for boys. Conclusion These results suggest mechanisms by which spirituality may maintain lower levels of depressive symptoms among adolescent girls during periods of transition to middle and high school.

Reciprocal relationships between symptoms of depression and parental support during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood

This study applies latent growth curve analysis to data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 10,828) and finds that symptoms of depression and social support interact with one another in a dynamic fashion across the transition from adolescence (mean age at Wave 1 = 15.28 years) to young adulthood (mean age at Wave 3 = 21.65 years). Parental support during adolescence is inversely associated with initial symptoms of depression for girls and boys, although adolescent girls with low levels of parental support begin the study period with significantly higher levels of depressive symptomatology than their male counterparts. In addition, adolescents who begin the study period with higher levels of depressive symptomatology report less parental support during young adulthood. Finally, regardless of their initial level of depressive symptoms, girls and boys who experience increased symptoms of depression over time also report lower levels of parental support at the end of the study period.

Overweight status and depressive symptoms during adolescence

Purpose To: (a) extend previous research on the association between overweight status and depressive symptoms among adults to adolescents, (b) consider whether this association varies across social structural contexts and school context, and (c) explore additional mechanisms linking overweight status to depressive symptoms. Methods We used survey regression procedures to analyze data from the first wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Degree of overweight was indicated by body mass index (BMI), which we calculated using self-reported height and weight information, whereas depressive symptoms were assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Data were analyzed to determine (a) the social groups in which being overweight was least common, (b) the association between overweight status and depressive symptoms, and (c) potential mediators of the association between relative weight and symptoms of depression, including dieting and self-rated health. The analytic sample contained 18,924 adolescents aged 11 to 21 years (mean age was 15.68). Approximately half the sample consisted of females (n = 9634). Results Adjusting for exercise and sociodemographic characteristics, we found that relative weight was associated with depressive symptoms for girls but not boys. For both, the association between overweight status and symptoms of depression was stronger among adolescents in lower grades. Dieting explained the positive association between relative weight and depressive symptoms for girls, whereas self-rated health mediated the association between relative weight and symptoms of depression for adolescents in lower grades. Conclusion To fully understand both the physical and mental health consequences of adolescent obesity, the social dimension of weight must be examined.

A Test of the Integration of the Hopelessness and Self-Esteem Theories of Depression in Schoolchildren.

This prospective study tested the diathesis-stress and symptom components of the integration of the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression in a sample of third- and seventh-grade children. The procedure involved an initial assessment of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and depressogenic inferential styles about causes, consequences, and the self. The procedure also involved a follow-up assessment, 6 weeks later, in which depressive symptoms and the occurrence of negative events were assessed. In line with the integrative theory, depressogenic inferential styles interacted with negative events to predict increases in hopelessness but not nonhopelessness depression symptoms in boys with low but not high self-esteem. At the same time, contrary to the integrative theory, depressogenic inferential styles interacted with negative events to predict increases in hopelessness but not nonhopelessness depression symptoms in girls with high but not low self-esteem.

Friends as reporters of children's and adolescents' depressive symptoms.

Obtaining information from multiple informants is important when assessing youth depression. Past studies have utilized adults' reports of youths' emotional functioning and aggregate reports from classmates but have not considered close friends as reporters of depressive symptoms. This is surprising given the important roles of friends as companions and confidants. This study investigated relations between friend-reported depressive symptoms and youths' self-reports. From a larger sample of fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade participants, self-reports and friend reports of depressive symptoms and friend reports of friendship quality were available for a subset of 367 participants. Significant positive relations emerged between friend reports and self-reports of affective depressive symptoms for girls and youth in high-quality friendships. Relations between friend reports and self-reports were stronger for conduct-related than affective depressive symptoms and reached significance for boys as well as for girls and for youth in low-quality friendships as well as for youth in high-quality friendships. Implications for identifying at-risk youth are discussed.

African American Children's Adjustment: The Roles of Maternal and Teacher Depressive Symptoms

This study examined the unique and interactive roles of mother and teacher depressive symptoms in child adjustment in 277 African American single mother-headed families, as well as whether the associations differed depending on the age and gender of the child. Findings revealed a significant association between maternal depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms in girls, but not boys. Moreover, the combination of higher levels of both mother and teacher depressive symptoms was associated with the highest level of child depressive symptoms and, for younger children, externalizing symptoms. The importance of considering the multiple social contexts in which children interact is discussed.

Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms During Adolescence

Although boys present a similar or even higher rate of depressive symptoms than girls prior to adolescence, girls become more depressive than boys during their teenage years. Pubertal changes have been suggested to be more stressful for girls than for boys. In addition, they occur more often in synchronicity with the transition to high school, accounting for the emergence of a higher rate of depressive symptoms in girls than in boys during adolescence. Five hundred and forty-seven French-speaking adolescents between the ages of I I years and I8 years (M = 14.46 years; 279 girls and 268 boys) participated in the present cross-sectional study and completed the French versions of the Beck Depression Inventory, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the Life Event Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire, the body image sub-scale of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire, and the Pubertal Development Scale. The results support the view that body image, self-esteem, and negative stressful life events mediate the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms during adolescence.Analyses of a subsample of adolescents who recently went through the transition to high school indicate that body image,self-esteem,and negative stressful life events mediate the relationship between pubertal status and depressive symptoms during the transition to high school.

Global negative self-evaluations, weight and eating concerns and depressive symptoms: a prospective study of adolescents.

A longitudinal study with four sequential cohorts of girls and boys in early to mid-adolescence (n = 607) was used to assess adolescent changes in global negative self-evaluation, depressive symptoms and weight and eating concerns. The effects of these areas on one another over time were also assessed. Over the six months between the two data collection times, both the girls and the boys experienced an improvement in depressive symptoms, while the boys also experienced a decrease in weight concerns. The results indicated that global negative self-evaluations could predict weight and eating concerns in boys and girls, while weight concerns could predict depressive symptoms in girls. These results are of particular interest, since these relationships have not been previously examined in a longitudinal study.

Gender differences in correlates of depressive symptoms in adolescents

Purpose: To determine: (a) what demographic and psychosocial factors are associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms in adolescence; (b) whether girls and boys show different profiles of correlates and probable risk factors for depressive symptoms; and (c) what the implications are of these results for future research directions and policy decisions. Methods: Using a nationally representative sample of adolescent school students in Grades 5–12, the Commonwealth Fund Adolescent Health Survey assessed depressive symptoms as well as a number of variables posited to be risk factors and correlates of depression. Results: Depressive symptoms were found to differ by gender, age, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. In addition, life stress, social support, and coping were associated with depressive symptoms. Importantly, stress and social support appear to be particularly salient aspects of depression among girls. Both physical and sexual abuse were strongly linked with depression for both boys and girls, with sexual abuse having a stronger impact among boys. Finally, high levels of depressive symptoms were associated with increased use of both mental and physical health care resources among boys and girls. Conclusions: The correlates of depression in this adolescent sample closely resemble those seen in adult samples, including demographic and psychosocial variables. Some psychosocial variables, such as stress and social support, may have a greater impact on depressive symptoms for girls than for boys. Results of this study also have important implications for the health care system, given that higher levels of depressive symptoms were found to be associated with greater utilization of physical health care resources.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Ratings of Emotional Disorder Symptoms in Children and Adolescents

This study uses information collected on two occasions from a probability sample of families with 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 718) participating in a general population study in 1983 and follow-up in 1987. It focuses on the association between maternal depressive symptoms and emotional disorder in children and adolescents, taking into consideration the influences of informant rating errors, contextual variables (economic disadvantage and family dysfunction), and child gender. Covariance structure analysis revealed a strong association between maternal depressive symptoms in girls (beta = .59 in 1983 and beta = .39 in 1987) but not in boys. This association is independent of the impact of contextual variables and the treatment of teacher rating errors. Among adolescent boys, maternal depressive symptoms are correlated with mother rating errors, suggesting the possible presence of maternal bias.