Hao-Jan Yang

The Roles of Personality Traits and Negative Life Events on the Episodes of Depressive Symptoms in Nonreferred Adolescents: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study

PURPOSE To evaluate the influences of personality traits and nonsevere life events on depressive episodes in a 1-year follow-up in nonreferred adolescents. METHODS Participants were 2,773 students aged 12 to 16 years randomly selected from six middle schools in Taiwan who were assessed both at baseline for personality traits and depressive symptoms and at 1 year later for negative life events and depressive symptoms. Two, single, or no episodes of depression were based on whether the scores of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression crossed over the cutoff of 28 at two time points. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to correlate personality or negative life events, which were trichotomized by means of tertiles or number of events, with the episodes of depressive symptoms. RESULTS After controlling for possible confounders, only elevated neuroticism was associated with a single episode of depressive symptoms, whereas a medium level or above of neuroticism, extraversion, or negative life events all exhibited association with the occurrence of two episodes. No interactions were found between all personality traits or between personality and negative life events. CONCLUSIONS The relations of personality traits or nonsevere life events to depressive symptoms depend on whether the episode is an initial one. A high level in neuroticism is a critical vulnerability factor for the initiation of depressive symptoms in adolescents. Once the threshold has been surpassed, the influences of various personality traits and nonsevere life events on the subsequent depressive symptoms become cumulative and exhibit a dose-response relationship.

Chronotype preference matters for depression in youth

ABSTRACT Morningness/eveningness (M/E) preference is an important circadian rhythm indicator with strong individual variation. M/E chronotype has been found to be correlated with depression in adults, yet the relationship is less clear in children and adolescents. Additionally, poor sleep quality is another commonly studied risk factor for depression. The aims of the present study are to investigate the independent effects of M/E chronotype on youth depression using both self-report and parental-report questionnaires. We also evaluated how poor sleep quality may affect the relationship through a mediating or moderating effect. In total, 2,139 students attending grades 1 to 7 participated in this study. They completed questionnaires regarding M/E chronotype, depression, and sleep quality. A total of 1,708 parents also participated and filled out parental-reports of emotional and behavioral problems of their children. The prevalence of self- and parental-report depression was 16.8% and 12.8% among young students, respectively. Overall, 15.4% of the students were the eveningness type. Being an eveningness type was independently associated with self-report depression after adjustment for poor sleep quality (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.07–3.24). We also observed that poor sleep quality mediated the influence of M/E chronotype on self-report depression among students aged 7–13 years (p < 0.001). On the other hand, being an eveningness type was associated with a number of parental-report emotional and behavioral problems in the students, in addition to depression, although these associations become non-significant after adjusted for poor sleep quality. Our results demonstrate the importance of M/E chronotype on youth depression and poor sleep quality partly mediates this effect.

Relation of Perseverative Tendency and Life Events to Depressive Symptoms: Findings from a Prospective Study in Non-referred Adolescents in Taiwan

This study aimed to explore the role of perseveration in the relations between life events and depression in a 2-year prospective study of non-referred adolescents. Participants were 400 middle school students randomly selected in Taipei. Baseline perseveration was measured using Perseverative Errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and psychological distress was measured using Anxious/Depressed syndrome on the Child Behavior Checklist. These individuals also completed the Life Event Checklist and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scales at follow-up. With adjustment for initial psychological distress and demographic features, the results of multiple regression analyses showed that more perseveration at baseline was associated with greater influence of negative life events on the subsequent depressive symptoms. Perseveration might act as a moderator on the relations of life events to depressive symptoms and lowering perseveration may be a plausible way to decrease the impact of negative life events on adolescent depressive symptoms.

The Associations among Unhealthy Eating Habits, Bad Eating Experiences and Depression in Taiwanese Youths

Objectives: Depression is prevalent in children and adolescents. We investigated whether unhealthy eating habits and eating preferences are associated with depression in Taiwanese youth. Methods: 549 students aged 10-13 years were enrolled from elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan. Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, three groups of depression were defined: depression (a score＞21), moderate depression (a score between 15-21) and normal (a score＜15) groups. We assessed irregular meal time, bad eating experiences, unhealthy eating habits and dietary preferences as their eating behaviors. Chi-square or ANOVA was used for group comparisons. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between eating behaviors and depression. Results: Unhealthy eating habits were common, ranged from 47.6% (midnight snack eating) to 70.5% (sugared beverages drinking). Taiwanese youth had on average 3.1 times per week of having irregular meal time. Depression group (N=71, 14.4%) reported to have more irregular eating meal time (p=0.005), unhealthy eating habits (p＜0.05 except for snack eating and sugar beverages drinking), and bad eating experiences to influence appetites (p＜0.05 except for appetite influenced by snack) than moderate depression (N=77, 14.6%) and normal (N=379, 71.9%) groups. The risk of depression or moderate depression increased with higher numbers of unhealthy eating habits (OR_(adj) ranged from 2.17-6.33) and bad eating experiences to influence appetites (OR_(adj) ranged from 1.79-16.5), with the irregular eating behavior subgroup showed a trend for a higher risk on depression. Additionally, students who had less preference for vegetables tended to be more depressed (p= 0.018). Conclusions: Commonly observed unhealthy eating behaviors are associated with higher risk of depression in youths. Interventions toward healthy eating behaviors could be considered as potential promoting strategies to reduce the burden of depression among children and adolescents.