ABSTRACT
This study documents the emergence of symptoms of anxiety and depression in a community sample of school-age children and describes the temporal progression of symptoms leading to depressive episodes. Caregivers of 468 seventh graders reported retrospectively the manifestation of 14 symptoms of depression and anxiety in their children from kindergarten through sixth grade. The sample was balanced by sex and reflected the racial and economic diversity of the urban school district. Childhood period prevalence was calculated for each symptom, and discrete time survival analyses compared likelihoods of early symptom emergence in children who did and did not meet diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) by ninth grade. Symptom prevalence ranged between 20% (excessive guilt) and 50% (concentration problems) during the elementary school years. The 4-year period prevalence of MDD was 8.9%, 95% confidence interval [6.5%, 12.1%]. Low energy, excessive worry, excessive guilt, anhedonia, social withdrawal, and sadness or depressed mood were each associated with a significantly higher likelihood of onset of MDD. Compared to girls, boys were more likely to exhibit sad mood, fatigue, and trouble concentrating. Children who later met criteria for MDD demonstrated a significantly higher likelihood of showing core features of depressive and anxiety disorders during their elementary school years. The findings underscore the importance of recognizing early signs and developing interventions to help children manage early symptoms and prevent later psychiatric illness.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders/prevention & control , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Child , Child, Preschool , Depressive Disorder, Major/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Prevalence , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Two studies examined how non-interpersonal forgiveness (when there is no social relationship between the transgressor and forgiver) related to coping and involuntary responses to stress, psychological distress, and religiosity. Three to six weeks after September 11th, 2001, forgiveness had non-linear associations with other responses to the terrorist attacks. Among college students (N=488), those who were trying or had forgiven (pro-forgiveness) the terrorists reported less involuntary engagement, more primary and secondary control coping, and more meaning finding than those who were unsure about forgiveness (ambivalent) and those who did not believe the perpetrators should be forgiven (anti-forgiveness). Ambivalent students reported the most distress, even after controlling for religion. Anti-forgiveness students reported less religiosity than ambivalent and pro-forgiveness students. Most findings were consistent among middle schoolers (N=154), particularly regarding psychological distress and responses to stress. Also, forgiveness of strangers for acts against one's community functioned separately from religion.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Religion and Psychology , September 11 Terrorist Attacks/psychology , Social Behavior , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Analysis of Variance , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Psychology, Adolescent , United StatesABSTRACT
We assessed the role of self-evaluative and support-seeking processes as mediators of the relation between maternal representations and depressive symptoms in a sample of 168 young adolescents. Representations of mother as unavailable, unresponsive, and unsupportive were associated with depressive symptoms measured by semistructured interview and self-report. Moderation tests revealed that the association between maternal representations and depressive symptoms varied as a function of stress level for self-reported symptoms only. Subsequent mediation analyses for higher and lower stress groups showed that support seeking functioned as a mediator in the higher, but not lower, stress group. When depressive symptoms were assessed via interview, results with the full sample indicated that self-worth contingencies mediated the association between maternal representations and symptoms. Findings are discussed in terms of the identification of proximal targets for intervention.
