Claire J. Starrs

Cognitive and Interpersonal Predictors of Stress Generation in Children of Affectively Ill Parents

Stress generation is a process in which individuals, through their depressive symptoms, personal characteristics, and/or behaviors, contribute to the occurrence of stressful life events. While this process has been well documented in adults, few studies have examined it in children. The present study examines whether cognitive and interpersonal vulnerability factors to depression contribute to stress generation in children, independent of their current depressive symptoms. Participants included 140 children (ages 6 to 14) and one of their parents. During an initial assessment, children completed self-report measures assessing cognitive and interpersonal vulnerability factors to depression. Children and their parents also completed measures assessing depressive symptoms. One year later, children and their parents participated in a semi-structured interview assessing the occurrence of stressful life events in the past year. Multi-level modeling results provided strong support for the stress generation process in children of affectively ill parents and highlight the importance of considering gender and age moderation effects.

A Test of the Integration of the Hopelessness and Response Styles Theories of Depression in Middle Adolescence

The current study examined several theories of depression in a sample of middle adolescents. At Time 1, 367 ninth graders completed measures assessing depressogenic inferential styles, the tendency to ruminate in response to depressed mood, and depressive symptoms. Six weeks later, participants completed measures assessing negative events and depressive symptoms. In line with the hopelessness theory, a depressogenic weakest link interacted with negative events to predict increases in hopelessness depression symptoms but not in more general depressive symptoms. Further, providing partial support for the response styles theory, the tendency to ruminate in response to depressed mood predicted increases in hopelessness depression symptoms but not in more general depressive symptoms. Contrary to the integrative theory, the relationship between a depressogenic weakest link and increases in hopelessness depression symptoms following negative events was not moderated by a ruminative response style.

Rumination as a Vulnerability Factor to Depression in Adolescents in Mainland China: Lifetime History of Clinically Significant Depressive Episodes

The current study tested the vulnerability and sex differences hypotheses of the response styles theory of depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Participants included 494 tenth-grade students (M = 15.25 years, SD = 0.47) recruited from two secondary schools in Beijing, China. Participants completed self-report measures assessing rumination and neuroticism as well as a semistructured clinical interview assessing current and past clinically significant depressive episodes. Higher levels of rumination were associated with a greater likelihood of exhibiting both a current depressive episode and a past history of depressive episodes even after controlling for neuroticism. Higher levels of rumination were also associated with greater severity and duration of current depressive episodes and greater severity of past depressive episodes even after controlling for neuroticism. Contrary to the sex differences hypothesis of the response styles theory, girls and boys did not differ in levels of rumination.

Coping Action Patterns as Mechanisms of Change Across Psychotherapies: Three Case Examples of Personality Disorders With Recurrent Major Depression

Maladaptive coping has been shown to be related to increased symptoms of distress and lower levels of well-being, whereas the use of adaptive coping has been shown to diminish distress and improve functioning. This suggests that change in coping may constitute a significant mechanism of change in psychotherapy. Utilizing a novel observer-rating method for assessing coping, the current report examined changes in overall coping functioning (OCF) in three participants with diverse personality disorders who were undergoing two different types of psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioral therapy and dynamic therapy) for recurrent major depression. Results showed that overall coping functioning improved in two cases and remained stable in a third. Preliminary findings, based on a detailed examination of changes in specific coping patterns, suggest that improvement may differ according to severity of personality pathology. As hypothesized, coping improved in both types of psychotherapy. Thus, overall results suggest that coping may constitute an important general mechanism of change.

Resilience in Holocaust Survivors: A Study of Defense Mechanisms in Holocaust Narratives

ABSTRACT There is extensive literature examining the psychological adaptation of survivors after the Holocaust, including studies of Holocaust narratives (HN). As a measure of psychological adaptation, defense mechanisms (DM) have been studied in various clinical samples, however, to date, not in Holocaust narratives. Using a standardized observer-rated measure, we assessed DM in Holocaust versus pre/post Holocaust narratives (other narratives [ON]) in 20 in-depth survivor interviews. Regarding individual DM, isolation of affect and self-assertion were statistically more frequent in the HN than the ON. High adaptive (mature) level defenses were more frequent in the HNs than the ON. Furthermore, the overall defensive functioning (ODF) was higher in the HN than the ON, contradicting previous findings showing lower defensive functioning in life-threatening situations. Possible explanations include differences in the nature of trauma, the time elapsed between the trauma and the interview, and the specificity of the sample. A qualitative overview with several examples from the narratives are also presented.