Stress-reactive rumination, negative cognitive style, and stressors in relationship to depressive symptoms in non-clinical youth.

The role of cognitive vulnerability in the development of depressive symptoms in youth might depend on age and gender. The current study examined cognitive vulnerability models in relationship to depressive symptoms from a developmental perspective. For that purpose, 805 youth (aged 10-18, 59.9% female) completed self-report measures. Stress-reactive rumination was strongly related to depressive symptoms. Negative cognitive style (i.e., tendency to make negative inferences) in the domains of achievement and appearance was more strongly and consistently related to depressive symptoms in girls compared to boys. Negative cognitive style in the interpersonal domain was positively related to depressive symptoms in both girls and boys, except in early adolescent girls reporting few stressors. To conclude, the cognitive vulnerability-stress interaction may be moderated by the combination of age and gender in youth, which may explain inconsistent findings so far. Current findings highlight the importance of taking into account domain specifity when examining models of depression in youth.

The effects of experimentally induced rumination, positive reappraisal, acceptance, and distancing when thinking about a stressful event on affect states in adolescents.

The current study compares the effects of experimentally induced rumination, positive reappraisal, distancing, and acceptance on affect states in adolescents aged 13-18. Participants (N = 160) were instructed to think about a recent stressful event. Next, they received specific instructions on how to think about that event in each condition. Manipulation checks revealed that the manipulations were successful, except for acceptance. The two most reported events were "a fight" and "death of loved one". Results showed that positive reappraisal (i.e., thinking about the benefits and personal growth) caused a significantly larger increase in positive affect and decrease in negative affect compared to rumination, distancing, and acceptance. Current findings implicate that positive reappraisal seems an adequate coping strategy in the short-term, and therefore could be applied in interventions for youth experiencing difficulties managing negative affect. Future research should focus on long-term effects of these cognitive strategies and on more intensive training of acceptance.

The Mediating Role of Rumination in the Relation Between Quality of Attachment Relations and Depressive Symptoms in Non-Clinical Adolescents.

This study examined associations between indices of the quality of attachment relationships of adolescents with parents and peers, rumination, and symptoms of depression. More specifically, a mediation model was investigated in which rumination was hypothesized to mediate the relation between quality of attachment relations and symptoms of depression. A total of 455 high school students completed a battery of questionnaires, including quality of attachment relations, rumination, and depression. Results showed that most indices of quality of attachment relations were significantly associated with rumination and symptoms of depression. When examining the relative contribution of these variables in explaining variance in depression symptoms, trust in parents, communication with peers, and alienation from peers accounted for a significant portion of the variance in depression scores. Finally, the relation between communication with peers and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by rumination, whereas partial mediation was found for the relations between parental trust and depressive symptoms, and between alienation from peers and depressive symptoms. Implications of the findings may be that the treatment of depression in adolescence should consist of both cognitive interventions aimed at targeting ruminative thinking as well as a focus on interpersonal relationships of the adolescent with parents and peers.

Norms and screening utility of the Dutch version of the Children's Depression Inventory in clinical and nonclinical youths.

This study aimed to (a) assess relationships between the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the Youth Self Report, (b) develop reliable norms for the CDI, and (c) determine CDI cutoff scores for selecting youngsters at risk for depression and anxiety. A total of 3,073 nonclinical and 511 clinically referred children and adolescents from The Netherlands and Belgium were included. Results showed that CDI scores were significantly related to DSM-oriented symptoms of both depression and anxiety. CDI scores correlated highly with depression symptoms and moderately with anxiety symptoms. Norms for the CDI were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and depended on sex, age, and country. CDI cutoff scores for selecting individuals at risk for depression and anxiety as measured by the DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the Youth Self Report were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic analysis. A CDI score of 16 was found to have the most optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity for depression, whereas a score of 21 provided the best sensitivity and specificity for anxiety in a subsample of children. We conclude that the CDI is an effective instrument for screening depression and to a lesser extent anxiety in primary and secondary care centers, before applying further assessment of high-risk individuals.

Dimensions of Negative Thinking and the Relations with Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents.

The current study sought to examine three forms of negative, repetitive thinking in non-clinical children and adolescents aged between 10 and 18. More specifically, this study addressed the degree to which stress-reactive rumination can be differentiated from other forms of repetitive thinking, such as emotion-focused rumination and worry, and the associations between the various indices of repetitive thinking and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires including measures of stress-reactive rumination, emotion-focused rumination, worry, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results showed that stress-reactive rumination, emotion-focused rumination and worry are related but distinct forms of repetitive negative thinking. Positive associations were found between all indices of repetitive thinking and symptoms of depression and anxiety, but the effects of emotion-focused rumination disappeared when controlling for the other forms of repetitive thinking. The findings are discussed in the light of current theories and previous research, and directions for future research are provided.

The influence of emotion-focused rumination and distraction on depressive symptoms in non-clinical youth: a meta-analytic review.

This review examined evidence for some core predictions of the response styles theory (RST) concerning the relation between response styles and symptoms of depression and gender differences in the use of response styles in non-clinical children and adolescents. In summarizing the literature, effect sizes (pooled correlation coefficients) were calculated for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Stability of the obtained effect sizes was evaluated by means of a fail-safe N analysis. Results indicated that stable and significant effect sizes were found for rumination being associated with concurrent and future levels of depression. When controlling for baseline levels of depression, effect sizes for rumination and distraction were not stable, indicating that these findings should be interpreted with considerable caution. Finally, significant and stable effect sizes for gender differences in response styles were found only for rumination among adolescents. Taken together, the findings partly support the predictions of the response styles theory examined in this meta-analysis and may implicate that rumination is a cognitive vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms among adolescents.

The influence of rumination and distraction on depressed and anxious mood: a prospective examination of the response styles theory in children and adolescents.

The present study sought to test predictions of the response styles theory in a sample of children and adolescents. More specifically, a ratio approach to response styles was utilized to examine the effects on residual change scores in depression and anxiety. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of rumination, distraction, depression, and anxiety at baseline (Time 1) and 8-10 weeks follow-up (Time 2). Results showed that the ratio score of rumination and distraction was significantly associated with depressed and anxious symptoms over time. More specifically, individuals who have a greater tendency to ruminate compared to distracting themselves have increases in depression and anxiety scores over time, whereas those who have a greater tendency to engage in distraction compared to rumination have decreases in depression and anxiety symptoms over time. These findings indicate that a ratio approach can be used to examine the relation between response styles and symptoms of depression and anxiety in non-clinical children and adolescents. Implications of the results may be that engaging in distractive activities should be promoted and that ruminative thinking should be targeted in juvenile depression treatment.