Angela K. Henneberger

Subthreshold Symptoms of Depression in Preadolescent Girls Are Stable and Predictive of Depressive Disorders

OBJECTIVE Given the risk for adolescent depression in girls to lead to a chronic course of mental illness, prevention of initial onset could have a large impact on reducing chronicity. If symptoms of depression that emerge during childhood were stable and predictive of later depressive disorders and impairment, then secondary prevention of initial onset of depressive disorders would be possible. METHOD Drawing from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, an existing longitudinal study, 232 nine-year-old girls were recruited for the present study, half of whom screened high on a measure of depression at age 8 years. Girls were interviewed about depressive symptoms using a diagnostic interview at ages 9, 10, and 11 years. Caregivers and interviewers rated impairment in each year. RESULTS The stability coefficients for DSM-IV symptom counts for a 1- to 2-year interval were in the moderate range (i.e., intraclass coefficients of 0.40-0.59 for continuous symptom counts and Kendall tau-b coefficients of 0.34-0.39 for symptom level stability). Depressive disorders were also relatively stable at this age. Poverty moderated the stability, but race and pubertal stage did not. Among the girls who did not meet criteria for a depressive disorder at age 9 years, the odds of meeting criteria for depressive disorders and for demonstrating impairment at age 10 or 11 years increased by 1.9 and 1.7, respectively, for every increase in the number of depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Early-emerging symptoms of depression in girls are stable and predictive of depressive disorders and impairment. The results suggest that secondary prevention of depression in girls may be accomplished by targeting subthreshold symptoms manifest during childhood.

Combining Mentoring With Structured Group Activities A Potential After-School Context for Fostering Relationships Between Girls and Mentors

The current study explores the potential of one-on-one mentoring facilitated within a structured group format for developing connection and sustaining mentor-mentee relationships with early adolescent girls. Results from a mixed-methods study using survey and observational data reveal that college student mentors and their seventh grade mentees report moderate-to-high satisfaction with the group experience, with no mean differences between groups. Yet there were significant differences between groups in the group members’ (mentees) satisfaction with their one-on-one mentoring relationships. Although all groups demonstrated high levels of some positive social processes related to connectedness (e.g., fun), groups in which mentees’ reported higher levels of satisfaction with their one-on-one relationships engaged in more higher level positive social processes (e.g., caretaking). Groups in which mentee’s reported lower satisfaction with their one-on-one relationships demonstrated more negative social processes (e.g., disengagement). Implications for after-school settings are discussed.

Lack of Assertion, Peer Victimization, and Risk for Depression in Girls: Testing a Diathesis–Stress Model

PURPOSE To apply a diathesis × stress model to testing the association between peer victimization and depression in a sample of preadolescent girls. METHODS DSM-IV symptoms of depression symptoms were measured at ages 9 and 11, assertiveness and peer victimization were assessed by youth report at age 9. RESULTS The interaction of low levels of assertiveness and high peer victimization at age 9 was predictive of depression symptoms at age 11, controlling for earlier depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The results extend the published data on peer relations and depression by identifying a group of girls who may be particularly vulnerable to the stress of negative peer interactions.

Examining the developmental interface of cortisol and depression symptoms in young adolescent girls.

Despite the substantial amount of data supporting a link between HPA-axis functioning and depression, the ontogeny of this association is not known. The aim of the present study was to contribute data on the developmental interface of HPA-axis functioning and depression in girls by testing associations between repeated measures of depression symptoms and cortisol levels in childhood and early adolescence. Girls (N=232) and their mothers, who were participating in a longitudinal study, were interviewed about depression symptoms annually from ages 9 to 12 years. Cortisol was assayed from saliva at ages 10 and 12 years upon arrival to the lab and following administration of the cold pressor task (CPT). Time of day of collection of saliva and level of pubertal development were included as covariates in model testing. Although most girls did not show an increase in cortisol in response to the CPT, lower levels of output during the CPT were associated with higher levels of depression symptoms. These findings were observed only for cortisol levels assessed at age 12 years. Girls with low levels of cortisol output at age 12, and decreases in output from ages 10 to 12, had stable or slightly increasing depression symptoms from ages 9 to 12 years. We conclude that associations between HPA-axis functioning and depression emerge as early as age 12. However, individual differences in cortisol levels at age 12 also were associated with depression symptoms at earlier ages. The data suggest two possibilities: (1) that childhood depression is associated with HPA-axis dysregulation, but that age related changes in the sensitivity or plasticity of the HPA-axis may result in a delay in the emergence of such an association, or (2) that dysregulation of the functioning of the HPA-axis develops following repeated experience of depression symptoms.

Delinquency in Adolescent Girls Using a Confluence Approach to Understand the Influences of Parents and Peers

Determining the interdependence of family and peer influences on the development of delinquency is critical to defining and implementing effective interventions. This study explored the longitudinal relationship among harsh punishment, positive parenting, peer delinquency, and adolescent delinquency using data from a sub-sample of the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Participants were 622 adolescent girls (42% European American, 53% African American); families living in low-income neighborhoods were oversampled. After controlling for the effects of race, living in a single parent household, and receipt of public assistance, harsh punishment and peer delinquency in early adolescence were positively related to delinquency in mid-adolescence. No significant main effects of positive parenting or interaction effects between parenting and peer delinquency were observed. Thus, the effects of harsh parenting and peer delinquency are independent and perhaps additive, rather than interdependent. Results indicate the continued importance of targeting both parenting and peer relationships to prevent delinquency in adolescent girls.

Differential Subtypes of Offending Among Adolescent Girls Predict Health and Criminality In Adulthood

This study tests whether subtyping justice-involved adolescent girls into violent and delinquent (VAD), delinquent only, and low subgroups is predictive of adult health and offending. We use data from the Gender and Aggression Project to examine young adulthood functioning among women (N = 114) who were incarcerated during adolescence. After controlling for age, initial official-reports of offending, and baseline scores on the outcome of interest, the VAD subgroup experienced the worst functioning in young adulthood. Compared with the delinquency only subgroup, the VAD subgroup recidivated at higher rates and reported more internalizing psychopathology and physical health discomfort. Findings indicate that justice-involved girls should not be treated as a homogeneous group and prevention and intervention services should focus on girls who are most at risk in adolescence.

“It Gave Me Ways to Solve Problems and Ways to Talk to People”: Outcomes From a Combined Group and One-on-One Mentoring Program for Early Adolescent Girls

Group mentoring is an increasingly popular intervention, but is still under-studied. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), a combined group and one-on-one mentoring program for early adolescent girls. Protégés (n = 113) were interviewed post-program about changes they made as a result of the program and mechanisms of those changes. Girls reported making changes in four major domains as a result of YWLP: (a) Academics (e.g., study habits), (b) Relational Development (e.g., trusting people), (c) Self-Regulation (e.g., thinking before acting), and (d) Self-Understanding (e.g., being yourself). Relational development and self-understanding were the most frequently reported types of change. Protégés reported mentors as contributing to changes in academics more often than the mentoring group. They reported the mentoring group as the change mechanism more often than mentors for relational development. Protégés reported the mentors and mentoring groups about equally as the mechanisms of change for self-regulation and self-understanding. The findings support prior research on group mentoring and suggest that social and relational skills are a developmental domain in which group-based mentoring programs for early adolescent girls may be particularly effective at intervening.

The Effect of Having Aggressive Friends on Aggressive Behavior in Childhood: Using Propensity Scores to Strengthen Causal Inference

This study uses propensity scores to statistically approximate the causal effect of having aggressive friends on aggressive behavior in childhood. Participants were 1,355 children (53% girls; 31% minority) in 97 third and fifth grade classrooms enrolled in the Classroom Peer Ecologies Project. Propensity scores were calculated to control for the impact of 21 relevant confounder variables related to having aggressive friendships and aggressive behavior. The 21 variables included demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics measured at the beginning of the school year. Presence/absence of aggressive friends was measured in the middle of the school year, and aggressive behavior was measured at the end of the school year. Results indicate a significant effect of having one or more aggressive friends on childrens aggressive behavior above and beyond the effects of the 21 demographic, social, and behavioral variables. The propensity score model is compared to two other models of peer influence. The strengths and practical challenges of using propensity score analysis to study peer influence are discussed.