Joann Wu Shortt

Dynamics of affective experience and behavior in depressed adolescents.

BACKGROUND Depression is often characterized as a disorder of affect regulation. However, research focused on delineating the key dimensions of affective experience (other than valence) that are abnormal in depressive disorder has been scarce, especially in child and adolescent samples. As definitions of affect regulation center around processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and modulating the occurrence, intensity, and duration of affective experiences, it is important to examine the extent to which affective experiences of depressed youth differ on these dimensions from those of healthy youth. METHODS The affective behavior and experience of adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 75) were compared to a demographically matched cohort of healthy adolescents (n = 77). Both samples were recruited from community high schools. A multi-source (parents and adolescent), multi-method (interviews, behavioral observations, questionnaires) assessment strategy was used to examine positive and negative affects. RESULTS Depressed youth had significantly longer durations, higher frequency, and greater intensity when experiencing angry and dysphoric affects and shorter durations and less frequency of happy affect when compared to healthy youth. The most consistent, cross-method results were evident for duration of affect. CONCLUSIONS Clinically depressed adolescents experienced disturbances in affective functioning that were evident in the occurrence, intensity, and duration of affect. Notably, the disturbances were apparent in both positive and negative affects.

AUTONOMIC CARDIAC CONTROL IN DEPRESSED ADOLESCENTS

Background: The aim of this study was to identify the aspects of cardiac physiology associated with depressive disorder early in life by examining measures of autonomic cardiac control in a community‐based sample of depressed adolescents at an early phase of illness, and matched on a number of demographic factors with a nondepressed comparison group. Methods: Participants were 127 adolescents (44 boys), ages 14–18, who formed two demographically matched groups of clinically depressed and nondepressed participants. Adolescents were excluded if they evidenced comorbid externalizing or substance‐dependence disorders, were taking medications with known cardiac effects, or reported regular nicotine use. Resting measures of heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, skin conductance level, blood pressure, and pre‐ejection period were collected. Results: Depressed adolescents had resting heart rates significantly higher than those of healthy adolescents. No other measure of autonomic functioning differentiated the groups. Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the influence of illness chronicity, severity, comorbidity, and sex on cardiac psychophysiology. These variables did not appear to exert a significant influence on the findings. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that neither autonomic cardiac control, illness chronicity, or severity, nor medication effects fully explain resting heart rate differences between depressed and nondepressed adolescents. Future research on depression and heart rate should consider mechanisms other than sympathetic or parasympathetic control as potential explanations of heart rate differences, including blood‐clotting mechanisms, vascular and endothelial dysfunction of the coronary arteries, and inflammatory immune system response. Depression and Anxiety, 2010.

Depression Is Associated With the Escalation of Adolescents' Dysphoric Behavior During Interactions With Parents

Though much is known about the stable mood patterns that characterize depressive disorder, less attention has been directed to identifying and understanding the temporal dynamics of emotions. In the present study, we examined how depression affects the trajectory of dysphoric and angry adolescent emotional behavior during adolescent-parent interactions. Adolescents (72 depressed; 69 nondepressed) engaged in video recorded positive and negative interactions with their parents. Depressed adolescents showed a linear increase in dysphoric behaviors throughout the negative interactions, while the incidence of these behaviors remained relatively stable across the interactions among nondepressed adolescents. A similar linear increase was not found in angry behavior. These findings show that depression in adolescence is associated with greater escalation of dysphoria during conflictual interactions between adolescents and their parents.

Intimate partner violence and diurnal cortisol patterns in couples

This study examined whether physical intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization was associated with diurnal patterns of salivary cortisol in a community sample of 122 couples in their 30s from predominantly lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. Findings indicate that women with higher levels of victimization exhibited flatter patterns of diurnal cortisol characterized by both higher midday levels and more attenuated decreases in cortisol levels across the day, compared to women with lower levels of victimization. However, mens victimization was not associated with their diurnal cortisol levels. This study advances our understanding of the association between physical IPV victimization and dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in women, which is likely to have further implications for their subsequent mental and physical health.

Associations Among Mother–Child Contact, Parenting Stress, and Mother and Child Adjustment Related to Incarceration

Contact between incarcerated parents and their children has received increased attention due to potential effects of contact on adult adjustment, adults’ ability to parent their children effectively, and children’s adjustment during and after incarceration. This pilot investigation incorporated self-report and biological measures of stress to examine associations between various forms of mother-child contact, mothers’ cortisol levels derived from hair samples, self-reported parenting stress, and maternal and child adjustment (i.e., emotion dysregulation, depressive and other mental health symptoms). The sample comprised 47 incarcerated mothers with a child between the ages of 4 and 12 years. Mothers were assessed at T1 in prison, at T2 before release, and at T3 6 months after release to examine change and stability over time in mothers’ cortisol and adjustment, associations between mothers’ cortisol and adjustment, and associations between mother-child contact and mothers’ cortisol, adjustment, and recidivism. Caregivers provided reports on children at T1 and T3 to investigate associations among child adjustment, mother-child contact, and maternal stress and adjustment. Mothers’ cortisol levels remained stable in prison and increased significantly after release, which was in contrast to other aspects of mothers’ adjustment such as depressive and mental health symptoms that decreased before release and remained stable after prison. More frequent mother-child contact appeared to be beneficial for maternal stress. In contrast, more mother-child contact was associated with higher child internalizing behavior. Mother-child contact was also related to recidivism. Living with their children before and after incarceration, and more frequent contact after release were associated with a decreased likelihood of detention after release among mothers. At T3 after reunification, higher maternal parenting stress was related to children’s higher internalizing and emotion dysregulation. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Associations of couples’ intimate partner violence in young adulthood and substance use: A dyadic approach.

Objective: Despite numerous studies on associations between substance use and intimate partner violence (IPV), the literature lacks consistency and clarity, making it difficult to ascertain the strength and nature of such associations. Scientific understanding of contextual factors that contribute to IPV would be enhanced by studies adopting a dyadic perspective. The current study advances the literature by examining the role of alcohol and marijuana use on couples’ IPV using an actor-partner framework. Method: Data were drawn from a community-based sample of 323 young adults at risk for delinquency and their romantic partners. Young adults and partners reported on their own alcohol and marijuana use and their own and their partners’ IPV. Results: Results indicate actor and partner effects for psychological and sexual IPV; men and women who used more substances experienced greater IPV perpetration and victimization compared with men and women who used fewer substances. The only significant predictor of physical IPV was an actor effect, in which women’s polysubstance use (vs. abstention) was predictive of higher levels of victimization. Conclusions: Findings indicate associations between alcohol use and IPV, particularly for men, and for polysubstance users of both sexes. This is consistent with other findings indicating that although alcohol use is a risk factor for IPV; effects vary considerably as a function of context, methodology, and samples. Given the presence of actor and partner effects, studies that use dyadic frameworks have the potential to yield more precise knowledge about the role of substance use in IPV.

Intergenerational transmission of violence: The mediating role of adolescent psychopathology symptoms

Evidence on the intergenerational continuity of intimate partner violence (IPV) suggests small to moderate associations between childhood exposure and young adult IPV involvement, suggesting an indirect effects model. Yet, few prospective studies have formally tested meditational mechanisms. The current study tested a prospective (over 9 years) moderated-mediational model in which adolescent psychopathology symptoms (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and combined) mediated the association between exposure to IPV in middle childhood and young adult IPV perpetration. In a more novel contribution, we controlled for proximal young adult partner and relationship characteristics. The sample consisted of n = 205 participants, who were, on average, assessed for exposure to parent IPV at age 12.30 years, adolescent psychopathology symptoms at age 15.77 years, and young adult IPV at 21.30 years of age. Data suggest a small, significant direct path from IPV exposure to young adult perpetration, mediated only through adolescent externalizing. Gender moderation analyses reveal differences in sensitivity to exposure across developmental periods; for males, effects of exposure were intensified during the transition to adolescence, whereas for females, effects were amplified during the transition to adulthood. In both cases, the mediational role of psychopathology symptoms was no longer significant once partner antisocial behavior was modeled. Findings have important implications for both theory and timing of risk conveyance.

Violence Begets Violence: Addressing the Dual Nature of Partner Violence in Adolescent and Young Adult Relationships

Abstract There has been a substantial increase in the number of studies that examine bidirectional violence toward partner (PV) in either adolescence or adulthood, or assess both partner’s PV perpetration and victimization, compared with only PV perpetration by boys or men as in earlier years of the field. This reflects changing views on the development of PV, such that both girls and boys are considered to play an active role in its emergence. In this chapter, we review theoretical approaches to PV and the evidence regarding the prevalence of bidirectional PV for adolescent and young adult couples. The development, escalation, severity, and outcomes of such PV are considered, as well as prevention implications, conclusions, and future directions. The focus of the chapter is mainly on physical PV, which has been the predominant focus of research studies on PV in adolescence but also includes discussion of psychological and sexual PV.