Interpersonal Stress Generation—A Girl Problem? The Role of Depressive Symptoms, Dysfunctional Attitudes, and Gender in Early Adolescent Stress Generation

To provide further insight into stress generation patterns in boys and girls around puberty, this study investigated longitudinal reciprocal relations between depressive symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes, and stress generation, the process by which individuals contribute to the occurrence of stress in interpersonal contexts (e.g., problematic social interactions) or in noninterpersonal contexts (e.g., achievement problems). A community sample of N = 924 German children and early adolescents (51.8% male) completed depressive symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes measures at T1 and again 20 months later (T2). Stressful life events were reported at T2. Dysfunctional attitudes were unrelated to stress generation. Interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal, dependent stress partially mediated the relationship between initial and later depressive symptoms, with girls being more likely to generate interpersonal stress in response to depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the role of interpersonal stress generation in the early development of depressive symptomatology, and in the gender difference in depression prevalence emerging around puberty.

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The role of environmental sensitivity in the development of rumination and depressive symptoms in childhood: a longitudinal study

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry ◽

10.1007/s00787-021-01830-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francesca Lionetti ◽

Daniel N. Klein ◽

Massimiliano Pastore ◽

Elaine N. Aron ◽

Arthur Aron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Parenting Style ◽

Middle Childhood ◽

Internalizing Problems ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

Community Sample ◽

Healthy Children ◽

Environmental Sensitivity ◽

Permissive Parenting

AbstractSome children are more affected than others by their upbringing due to their increased sensitivity to the environment. More sensitive children are at heightened risk for the development of internalizing problems, particularly when experiencing unsupportive parenting. However, little is known about how the interplay between children’s sensitivity and parenting leads to higher levels of depressive symptoms. In the current study, we investigated the interaction between early parenting and children’s sensitivity on levels of depressive symptomatology in middle childhood, exploring the role of rumination as a possible mediator in a community sample. Participants included 196 USA resident families, from a middle class and mostly European–American background, and their healthy children, followed up from age 3 until 9 and 12 years. Environmental sensitivity was assessed observationally when children were 3 years old. Parenting style was based on parent-report at the age of 3 years. When children were nine, they completed questionnaires on rumination and depressive symptoms (repeated at 12 years). Analyses were run applying a Bayesian approach. Children’s sensitivity interacted with permissive parenting in predicting rumination at age 9. Rumination, in turn, was associated with depressive symptoms at age 9 and, to a lesser extent, at age 12. No relevant interactions emerged for authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Sensitive children may be at heightened risk for internalizing problems when exposed to a permissive parenting style. Permissive parenting was associated with increased ruminative coping strategies in sensitive children which, in turn, predicted higher levels of depression. Hence, rumination emerged as an important cognitive risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in sensitive children.

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Higher cognitive ability buffers stress-related depressive symptoms in adolescent girls

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579415000310 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 97-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Lucy Riglin ◽

Stephan Collishaw ◽

Katherine H. Shelton ◽

I. C. McManus ◽

Terry Ng-Knight ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Community Sample ◽

Familial Risk ◽

Data Sets ◽

Cognitive Operations

AbstractStress has been shown to have a causal effect on risk for depression. We investigated the role of cognitive ability as a moderator of the effect of stressful life events on depressive symptoms and whether this varied by gender. Data were analyzed in two adolescent data sets: one representative community sample aged 11–12 years (n = 460) and one at increased familial risk of depression aged 9–17 years (n = 335). In both data sets, a three-way interaction was found whereby for girls, but not boys, higher cognitive ability buffered the association between stress and greater depressive symptoms. The interaction was replicated when the outcome was a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. This buffering effect in girls was not attributable to coping efficacy. However, a small proportion of the variance was accounted for by sensitivity to environmental stressors. Results suggest that this moderating effect of cognitive ability in girls is largely attributable to greater available resources for cognitive operations that offer protection against stress-induced reductions in cognitive processing and cognitive control which in turn reduces the likelihood of depressive symptomatology.

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Inflammation and the Association of Vitamin D and Depressive Symptomatology

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13061972 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1972

Author(s):

Ezgi Dogan-Sander ◽

Roland Mergl ◽

Anja Willenberg ◽

Ronny Baber ◽

Kerstin Wirkner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Inflammatory Markers ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

Community Sample ◽

Significant Negative Correlation ◽

Vitamin D Supplementation ◽

Complex Relationship ◽

Moderation Effect ◽

Mediation Analyses

Depression and vitamin D deficiency are major public health problems. The existing literature indicates the complex relationship between depression and vitamin D. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this relationship is moderated or mediated by inflammation. A community sample (n = 7162) from the LIFE-Adult-Study was investigated, for whom depressive symptoms were assessed via the German version of CES-D scale and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and inflammatory markers (IL-6 and CRP levels, WBC count) were quantified. Mediation analyses were performed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro and regression analyses were conducted to test moderation effects. There was a significant negative correlation between CES-D and 25(OH)D, and positive associations between inflammatory markers and CES-D scores. Only WBC partially mediated the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms both in a simple mediation model (ab: −0.0042) and a model including covariates (ab: −0.0011). None of the inflammatory markers showed a moderation effect on the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms. This present work highlighted the complex relationship between vitamin D, depressive symptoms and inflammation. Future studies are needed to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on inflammation and depressive symptomatology for causality assessment.

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