Increasing research underscores low positive emotion (PE) as a vital component of depression risk in adolescence. Theory also suggests that PE contributes to adaptive coping. However, it is unclear ...whether naturalistic experiences of emotions contribute to long-term depression risk, or whether daily PE levels equip adolescents to cope with later naturalistic stressors, reducing risk for depression. The current study examines whether PE (and negative emotion NE) assessed via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) (a) predict prospective increases in depression, and (b) moderate the association between later life stressors and depression.
Longitudinal study of community-recruited adolescents, with EMA at baseline.
Adolescents (n = 232) completed contextual threat life stress interviews, interview and self-report measures of depression at baseline and 1.5 year follow-up. At baseline, they completed a seven-day EMA of emotion.
Preregistered analyses showed that daily NE, but not PE, predicted increased depression over time and moderated the association between interpersonal episodic stress and self-reported depression.
Results did not support daily PE as a buffer against depressogenic effects of life stress, but point to daily NE as a marker of depression risk.
Childhood adversity (CA) is known to predict sensitization to proximal stressors. Researchers have suggested that disruptions in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning may be a biological ...mechanism. If so, CA may predict altered associations between proximal life stress and markers of cortisol secretion. We examined whether CA moderates associations between recent episodic stress and (a) the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and (b) depressive symptoms, in 241 adolescents aged 14-17 years (cortisol n = 196). Salivary cortisol was sampled at 0, 30, and 60 min postawakening for 2 days. The CAR was calculated as the area under the curve with respect to increase and waking cortisol. CA and episodic stress were assessed using contextual-threat-method-coded objective interviews. CA significantly interacted with episodic stress to predict both the CAR and depression. Among those with low CA, episodic stress predicted increased CAR but did not predict depression. For adolescents with high CA, episodic stress predicted lower CAR and higher depression. These interactions were found only for independent (uncontrollable, fateful) events, and not for dependent (self-generated) stress. Increased allostatic load resulting from CA exposure may interfere with adolescents' ability to optimally regulate their CAR in relation to recent stress, contributing to increased depression risk.
Though sexual minority adolescents face a wide array of deleterious stressors, few studies have examined the role of specific types of stress exposure (i.e., chronic vs. episodic, interpersonal vs. ...non-interpersonal) on mental health disparities. This study utilizes a contextual threat-based assessment to (a) compare levels of stress exposure types between sexual minority and non-sexual minority adolescents, and (b) examine stress type as a mediator between sexual orientation and two outcomes: depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation. Data comes from a longitudinal sample (14-17 years-old, N = 241; 17.6% sexual minority; 54% assigned female at birth; 73.9% White), with two time-points (T1 and T2) utilized. Sexual minority adolescents reported higher chronic interpersonal stress, but no differences in non-interpersonal chronic or episodic stress, relative to non-sexual minority adolescents. Chronic interpersonal stress exposure mediated the link between membership in an oppressed group (i.e., sexual minority teens) and the primary outcomes (emotion dysregulation and depressive symptoms) at both T1 and T2. Findings demonstrate the utility of contextual threat-based assessments within sexual minority research.
The ability to make fine-grained distinctions between discrete negative emotions-termed negative emotion differentiation (NED)-is important for emotion regulation and psychological well-being. ...Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with elevated trauma-related negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, guilt, shame) and self-reported difficulty identifying feelings, suggesting that low NED may be a feature of PTSD. PTSD is also characterized by overreliance on avoidance as an emotion regulation strategy-a characteristic that could be influenced by low NED. Here, we examined whether NED is reduced in PTSD and the role NED plays in the association between trauma-related avoidance and other PTSD symptoms (traumatic reexperiencing, negative alterations in cognition and mood, alterations in arousal and reactivity). Hypotheses were tested using 3 days of ecological momentary assessment (up to 17 prompts per day) in 80 trauma-exposed participants (39 with PTSD, 41 without PTSD; total completed surveys = 2,158). NED was reduced and self-reported difficulty identifying feelings was elevated in those with PTSD, and both predicted PTSD severity (Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-5 score) and momentary PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, low NED, but not difficulty identifying feelings, predicted a stronger association between momentary trauma-related avoidance and PTSD symptoms. Results suggest that NED is involved in the emotional processing of trauma by decreasing the negative impact of avoidance behavior on other PTSD symptoms.
General Scientific SummaryHeightened levels of negative emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, and disgust, are common features of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study suggests that people with PTSD have more difficulty differentiating between these discrete negative emotions than people without PTSD. This difficulty, called low negative emotion differentiation, also uniquely contributes to the association between avoidance of trauma reminders and the experience of other PTSD symptoms.
Research exploring the mechanisms by which specific genes contribute to overall marital quality is still in its beginning stages; however, one mechanism may be the link between the oxytocin receptor ...gene (OXTR) and behavioral deficits relevant to social support-a critical determinant of marital quality. Using 79 different-sex married couples (N = 158), we found that genotypic variation in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on wives' and husbands' OXTR variously associated with husbands' and wives' support provision and receipt behaviors in social support discussions. We also found significant indirect effects of husbands' TT genotype for OXTR SNP rs1042778 on lower marital quality for husbands and wives by way of the husband's more negative evaluation of his wife's responsiveness when he was the target for support. However, exploratory analyses also revealed that this genotype conferred benefits to marital quality through another path, altogether supporting the notion that genotypic variation on OXTR may have broad and potentially context-dependent influences on social behavior, which may play out in complex ways when examined in a marital context.
The current study examines longitudinal associations between light and heavy sexual experiences and psychiatric symptoms in African American adolescent girls receiving mental health care. Research ...supports bidirectional associations between adolescent romantic and sexual behaviors and depression and other mental health problems, but this finding has not been examined among African American youth or in clinical samples. African American girls in psychiatric treatment suffer disparities in HIV/AIDS vulnerability, and understanding the context of girls' risk-taking (and how psychological symptoms contribute) may aid prevention efforts. Two-hundred-sixty-five African American girls seeking psychiatric care were assessed for mental health symptoms and light and heavy sexual behaviors. Participants completed a 6-month follow-up. Baseline light sexual activity predicted increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms and substance use at follow-up. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms predicted increased heavy sexual behaviors over time, including HIV-risk behaviors. Results support the association between romantic involvement and depression. Psychological symptoms may play a key role in the emergence of risky sexual behaviors among African American adolescent girls in psychiatric care and should be considered in prevention program development.
Rumination is correlated with diverse types of internalizing problems, but the extent to which it relates to a higher-order internalizing spectrum versus disorder-specific pathology is unclear. Using ...a quantitative model of the internalizing dimension, we compared the strength of transdiagnostic versus diagnosis-specific pathways from brooding—the most depressogenic component of rumination—to major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents. Community-recruited mid-adolescents (N = 241, Mage = 15.90 years, 53% female) completed semi-structured interviews of anxiety and depressive conditions and a self-report brooding measure. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed good fit for a one-factor model of internalizing conditions. Results revealed a large, significant factor correlation between brooding and the internalizing factor (r = 0.55), with some evidence for a more modest specific link between brooding and the unique component of the MDD diagnosis (r = 0.17; approximately one-third as large as the transdiagnostic pathway). These cross-sectional associations were generally consistent across two assessment waves separated by 19 months. We concluded that brooding is better conceptualized as a common characteristic of all internalizing problems in adolescence, rather than a specific feature of MDD. Preregistered hypotheses, data analysis code, and correlation matrices for this study are posted at https://osf.io/dax7u/.
Abstract Building on evidence that romantic experiences are associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence, we examined their bidirectional association, as well as the role of sexual activity and ...parent–adolescent stress in their association. Data were collected from 71 early adolescent girls ( M age 13.45 years; SD = 0.68) and their primary caregiver initially and one year later. Results indicated that adolescents who engaged in more romantic activities experienced increases in depressive symptoms over time. Second, greater depressive symptoms predicted romantic involvement and sexual activities, including intercourse, one year later. Third, dysphoric adolescents who were experiencing higher parent–adolescent stress were the most likely to engage in subsequent sexual intercourse. Implications for understanding how the association between depressive symptoms and romantic and sexual experiences develops and the course of this association are discussed.
Abstract Because the ability to flexibly experience and appropriately express emotions across a range of developmentally relevant contexts is crucial to adaptive functioning, we examined how ...adolescent attachment security may be related to more functional emotional behavior during a relationship promoting interaction task. Data were collected from 74 early adolescent girls (Mean age 13.45 years; SD = 0.68; 89% Caucasian) and their primary caregiver. Results indicated that, regardless of the parent’s interaction behavior and the level of stress in the parent–adolescent relationship, greater adolescent security was associated with more positive and less negative behavioral displays, including greater positivity, greater coherence of verbal content and affect, less embarrassment, and less emotional dysregulation in response to a situational demand for establishing intimacy with the parent. Implications for encouraging and fostering adolescents’ capacity to respond to interpersonal contexts in ways that promote the relationship are discussed.
Coyne's (1976a
,
1976b
) interactional theory of depression predicts positive associations between excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) and both depression and interpersonal rejection. A growing body ...of research has supported the ERS model, but this work has yet to be systematically reviewed. A meta-analysis of 38 studies (
N
= 6,973) revealed an aggregate effect size (
r
) of .32 between ERS and concurrent depression. Moderator analyses showed effect sizes were significantly stronger for studies with self-report measures, compared with interviews, and for samples with higher percentages of women and were marginally stronger for studies with community samples, compared with clinical samples. A second meta-analysis of 16 studies yielded a weighted mean effect size of .14 between ERS and concurrent rejection, with studies assessing target-reported rejection showing stronger effect sizes than studies assessing informant-reported rejection and studies examining romantic relationships yielding marginally stronger effect sizes than studies examining nonromantic relationships. Prospective studies are qualitatively reviewed. Results support the ERS model (with several important caveats) but underscore the need for methodological diversity in future research.
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