Catherine B. Stroud

The Relationship Between Stress and Depression in First Onsets Versus Recurrences: A Meta-Analytic Review

S. M. Monroe and K. L. Harkness reviewed the empirical evidence supporting R. M. Posts kindling model, which suggests the 1st episode of depression is more likely to be preceded by major stressors than are subsequent episodes. Their review highlighted the diverse interpretations of Posts premise in the current literature and the changes in research methods that have contributed to this interpretive shift. The authors conducted a meta-analysis (N=13 studies) to test Posts premise that integrated early and recent research and examined potential moderators. A proportion difference effect size was used. Results indicated that 1st onsets of depression were more likely than recurrences to be preceded by severe life events, supporting Posts premise. The moderator analyses suggested that support may be most evident in patient samples and may vary according to age and gender, with less support for Posts premise evidenced in younger samples and in women. Although these results are preliminary, as the analysis included a small number of studies, they suggest that future research should further examine factors that influence the stress-depression relationship with successive recurrences.

Chronic and episodic interpersonal stress as statistically unique predictors of depression in two samples of emerging adults

Few studies comprehensively evaluate which types of life stress are most strongly associated with depressive episode onsets, over and above other forms of stress, and comparisons between acute and chronic stress are particularly lacking. Past research implicates major (moderate to severe) stressful life events (SLEs), and to a lesser extent, interpersonal forms of stress; research conflicts on whether dependent or independent SLEs are more potent, but theory favors dependent SLEs. The present study used 5 years of annual diagnostic and life stress interviews of chronic stress and SLEs from 2 separate samples (Sample 1 N = 432; Sample 2 N = 146) transitioning into emerging adulthood; 1 sample also collected early adversity interviews. Multivariate analyses simultaneously examined multiple forms of life stress to test hypotheses that all major SLEs, then particularly interpersonal forms of stress, and then dependent SLEs would contribute unique variance to major depressive episode (MDE) onsets. Person-month survival analysis consistently implicated chronic interpersonal stress and major interpersonal SLEs as statistically unique predictors of risk for MDE onset. In addition, follow-up analyses demonstrated temporal precedence for chronic stress; tested differences by gender; showed that recent chronic stress mediates the relationship between adolescent adversity and later MDE onsets; and revealed interactions of several forms of stress with socioeconomic status (SES). Specifically, as SES declined, there was an increasing role for noninterpersonal chronic stress and noninterpersonal major SLEs, coupled with a decreasing role for interpersonal chronic stress. Implications for future etiological research were discussed.

Assessing romantic competence in adolescence: The Romantic Competence Interview

This article presents preliminary psychometric data on the reliability and validity of the newly developed Romantic Competence Interview (RCI). The RCI is an interviewer-assessed measure designed to assess competence among adolescents regardless of romantic relationship status. Eighty-three early adolescent girls (m age=13.45 years) recruited from local school districts were administered the RCI along with other measures of social competence, and peer and romantic functioning. Concurrent and 1-year predictive associations were examined. Results indicated that the RCI was reliably coded and demonstrated good construct validity. Implications for the conceptualization and measurement of romantic competence are discussed, as is the importance of attending to issues of competence early in adolescence.

Love Hurts (in More Ways Than One): Specificity of Psychological Symptoms as Predictors and Consequences of Romantic Activity Among Early Adolescent Girls

OBJECTIVE Research has linked adolescent romantic and sexual activities to depressive symptoms. The current study examines whether such activities are uniquely linked to depressive symptoms versus symptoms of other disorders (including anxiety, externalizing, and eating disorders), and whether co-occurring symptoms more precisely account for the association between depressive symptoms and romantic involvement. METHOD Early adolescent girls (N = 83; mean age = 13.45) participated in baseline and 1-year follow up data collection. RESULTS Romantic (i.e., dating and sexual) activities were longitudinally related to numerous types of symptoms. The association between depressive symptoms and romantic variables remained when considering co-occurring symptoms. Girls with more comorbid disorders reported more romantic activities. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that the maladaptive consequences and precipitants of adolescent romantic activities extend beyond depression, but also imply that this association is not secondary to comorbid symptoms. Future work should clarify causal pathways.

Marital Quality Spillover and Young Children's Adjustment: Evidence for Dyadic and Triadic Parenting as Mechanisms

Research has evidenced support for the spillover model, which posits that parents’ marital functioning influences child adjustment by eroding parenting and coparenting in dyadic (mother–child and father–child) and triadic (mother–father–child) contexts. However, prior work has not simultaneously investigated dyadic and triadic parenting as mechanisms of spillover. Furthermore, although evidence indicates that the marital system affects child adjustment by influencing parents’ behavior, research has not explored whether child behaviors in parent–child interactions also serve as mechanisms. To address these gaps, we examined the spillover model using observational measures of parent and child behavior in parent–child dyadic interactions as well as coparenting in triadic interactions. We also explored parent and child gender differences in spillover effects. Participants were families with children 3 to 6 years of age (n = 149; 62% Caucasian). Findings indicated that marital functioning influences child adjustment by disrupting parent–child interactions in dyadic and triadic contexts, although results differed by child/parent gender and outcome examined. First, childrens responsiveness to their mothers emerged as a significant mechanism of spillover effects for boys’ internalizing and girls’ externalizing behavior. Second, for girls and boys, marital functioning was indirectly related to childrens internalizing and externalizing behavior through reductions in coparenting warmth. Finally, there was little evidence that parent gender moderated the indirect effect of dyadic parenting, except that child responsiveness to mothers (vs. to fathers) was more strongly related to child adjustment. These findings underscore the need for interventions targeting dyadic and triadic parent–child interactions in the face of marital distress.

Additive genetic risk from five serotonin system polymorphisms interacts with interpersonal stress to predict depression

Behavioral genetic research supports polygenic models of depression in which many genetic variations each contribute a small amount of risk, and prevailing diathesis-stress models suggest gene-environment interactions (G×E). Multilocus profile scores of additive risk offer an approach that is consistent with polygenic models of depression risk. In a first demonstration of this approach in a G×E predicting depression, we created an additive multilocus profile score from 5 serotonin system polymorphisms (1 each in the genes HTR1A, HTR2A, HTR2C, and 2 in TPH2). Analyses focused on 2 forms of interpersonal stress as environmental risk factors. Using 5 years of longitudinal diagnostic and life stress interviews from 387 emerging young adults in the Youth Emotion Project, survival analyses show that this multilocus profile score interacts with major interpersonal stressful life events to predict major depressive episode onsets (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.815, p = .007). Simultaneously, there was a significant protective effect of the profile score without a recent event (HR = 0.83, p = .030). The G×E effect with interpersonal chronic stress was not significant (HR = 1.15, p = .165). Finally, effect sizes for genetic factors examined ignoring stress suggested such an approach could lead to overlooking or misinterpreting genetic effects. Both the G×E effect and the protective simple main effect were replicated in a sample of early adolescent girls (N = 105). We discuss potential benefits of the multilocus genetic profile score approach and caveats for future research.

Predicting the transition from anxiety to depressive symptoms in early adolescence: Negative anxiety response style as a moderator of sequential comorbidity

BACKGROUND Anxiety often precedes depression. The anxiety response styles theory of comorbidity suggests anxious individuals with a tendency to ruminate or make hopeless attributions about anxiety symptoms (negative anxiety response styles [NARS]) are more vulnerable to subsequent depressive symptoms. However, this theory has never been tested in adolescence, when the anxiety-depression transition may frequently occur, or using an extended (one-year) follow-up period. METHOD 128 early adolescent girls (M=12.39 years) participated with caregivers in a one-year longitudinal study. At baseline and follow-up, participants completed diagnostic interviews and self-report measures assessing child NARS and brooding rumination. RESULTS T1 NARS predicted longitudinal elevations in depressive symptoms and increased associations between T1 anxiety and T2 depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS This study examines anxiety and depression comorbidity using a community sample. The sample is relatively low on sociodemographic diversity. CONCLUSIONS Results support the anxiety response styles theory, with potential implications for early identification of anxious youth at risk for later development of comorbid depression.

Commentary: Defining and Understanding Adolescent Romantic Competence: Progress, Challenges, and Implications

Commentary on the articles in this special section is provided. Following a brief review of the articles in this section, discussion focuses on the conceptualization of adolescent romantic competence, the importance of studying competence, and the implications of research in this area for knowing how to help young people have more successful romantic relationships.

Interpersonal dysfunction in personality disorders: A meta-analytic review

Personality disorders are defined in the current psychiatric diagnostic system as pervasive, inflexible, and stable patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving, and interacting with others. Questions regarding the validity and reliability of the current personality disorder diagnoses prompted a reconceptualization of personality pathology in the most recent edition of the psychiatric diagnostic manual, in an appendix of emerging models for future study. To evaluate the construct and discriminant validity of the current personality disorder diagnoses, we conducted a quantitative synthesis of the existing empirical research on associations between personality disorders and interpersonal functioning, defined using the interpersonal circumplex model (comprising orthogonal dimensions of agency and communion), as well as functioning in specific relationship domains (parent–child, family, peer, romantic). A comprehensive literature search yielded 127 published and unpublished studies, comprising 2,579 effect sizes. Average effect sizes from 120 separate meta-analyses, corrected for sampling error and measurement unreliability, and aggregated using a random-effects model, indicated that each personality disorder showed a distinct profile of interpersonal style consistent with its characteristic pattern of symptomatic dysfunction; specific relationship domains affected and strength of associations varied for each personality disorder. Overall, results support the construct and discriminant validity of the personality disorders in the current diagnostic manual, as well as the proposed conceptualization that disturbances in self and interpersonal functioning constitute the core of personality pathology. Importantly, however, contradicting both the current and proposed conceptualizations, there was not evidence for pervasive dysfunction across interpersonal situations and relationships.

Rumination, Excessive Reassurance Seeking, and Stress Generation Among Early Adolescent Girls

Nolen-Hoeksema proposed that rumination increases stressful events and circumstances; however, few studies have examined this question. Thus, we explored whether (a) rumination predicted increases in the generation of chronic and acute stress, (b) excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) mediated links between rumination and stress generation, (c) rumination increased exposure to acute independent (uncontrollable) stress, and (d) rumination predicted chronic stress generation in certain domains, but not others. These questions were examined in a 1-year study of 126 early adolescent girls (M age = 12.39 years) using contextual objective stress interviews. Findings indicated that rumination predicted increases in acute dependent interpersonal stress and chronic interpersonal stress, and ERS mediated these associations. Moreover, rumination was not associated with acute independent stress. Finally, the effect of rumination on chronic stress generation was most salient in adolescents’ romantic lives and in parent-adolescent relationships. These findings suggest that ruminators create stressful interpersonal environments.