ABSTRACT
A 1-year longitudinal study tested the model that the relation between maternal depression and adolescent suicidal symptoms is mediated by family functioning. Participants were 240 children (mean age = 11.86 years) and their mothers; 77% of the mothers had a history of a mood disorder and the remaining 23% were lifetime-free of psychopathology. An adolescent suicide index was created based on suicide items from the child and parent versions of the Children's Depression Inventory, Child Behavior Checklist and Children's Depression Rating Scale, administered at both Time 1 and 2. Family functioning was assessed with the Family Relationship Index completed by mothers and children at Time 1. Results indicated that the relation between maternal depression and adolescent suicide symptoms at Time 2 was mediated by perceived family functioning, controlling for suicide symptoms at Time 1.
Subject(s)
Child of Impaired Parents/psychology , Suicide, Attempted/psychology , Suicide/psychology , Adolescent , Child , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Family Relations , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Mothers/psychology , Personality Assessment , Risk Factors , Suicide, Attempted/prevention & control , Suicide PreventionABSTRACT
This study examined direct and stress-moderating effects of attributional style and global self-worth on depressive and externalizing symptoms in adolescents. Attributional style, perceived self-worth, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were assessed in 371 students in the spring of 6th grade. After the transition to 7th grade, they again completed measures of depression and externalizing symptoms as well as measures of negative life events and school hassles. Stressors around the transition predicted both depressive and externalizing behaviors. Perceived self-worth predicted depressive symptoms, but not externalizing behaviors. Attributional style directly and in interaction with stressors predicted depressive symptoms and did not predict externalizing behavior. A 3-way interaction between stress, attributional style, and self-worth suggested that level of perceived self-worth may moderate the effects of attributional style in times of stress.
Subject(s)
Cognition , Depression/psychology , Schools , Stress, Psychological , Child , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Male , Self Concept , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Students/psychologyABSTRACT
The cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression was tested in a sample of 439 children in grades 5 and 6. Attributional style and cognitions about academic competence and control over achievement were assessed before the occurrence of a potentially stressful event--receiving unacceptable grades on a report card. Depressive symptoms were assessed 1 week before the event, the morning after, and 5 days later. Replicating G. I. Metalsky, L. J. Halberstadt, and L. Y. Abramson (1987), stressor level and negative cognitions predicted depressive symptoms the morning after the event, controlling for initial symptom levels. Depressive symptoms 5 days later were predicted by the interactions of negative cognitions with stressors, supporting a cognitive diathesis-stress model. Students who reported a negative explanatory style or lack of academic control and competence expressed more distress after receiving unacceptable grades than did students without such cognitions.
