Sydney Ey

Depression in adolescence.

Adolescence is an important developmental period for understanding the nature, course, and treatment of depression. Recent research concerned with depressive mood, syndromes, and disorders during adolescence is reviewed, including investigations of the prevalence, course, risk factors, and prevention and treatment programs for each of these three levels of depressive phenomena in adolescence. A broad biopsychosocial perspective on adolescent depression is recommended, and possible directions for future integrative research are proposed. Based on current research and knowledge, implications for research, program, and national policy are considered.

When Mom or Dad Has Cancer: II. Coping, Cognitive Appraisals, and Psychological Distress in Children of Cancer Patients

Cognitive appraisals and coping were examined in children, adolescents, and young adults (N = 134) faced with the diagnosis of cancer in a parent. All 3 age groups perceived low personal control and high external control over their parents illness and used relatively little problem-focused coping. Adolescents and young adults reported more emotion-focused coping and dual-focused coping (both problem- and emotion-focused in intent) than did preadolescent children. Stage and prognosis of parents cancer were related to appraisals of greater seriousness and stressfulness, and to more avoidance; however, only appraisals of stress were related to symptoms of anxiety-depression. Emotion-focused coping was related to greater avoidance and to higher symptoms of anxiety-depression; coping and control beliefs did not interact in their association with anxiety-depression symptoms.

Stress and psychopathology in children and adolescents: is there evidence of specificity?

Research on the relations between specific stressors and specific psychological outcomes among children and adolescents is reviewed. Specificity, the notion that particular risk factors are uniquely related to particular outcomes is discussed from a theoretical perspective, and models of specificity are described. Several domains of stressors are examined from a specificity framework (e.g., exposure to violence, abuse, and divorce/marital conflict) in relation to broad-band outcomes of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Studies that tested for specificity conducted within the past 15 years are examined, and definitional problems are highlighted. Little evidence for specificity was found. Methodological problems in the literature and the lack of theory-driven specificity research are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.

Taxonomy, Assessment, and Diagnosis of Depression During Adolescence

Research on depressive phenomena during adolescence has focused on 3 separate constructs: depressed mood, depressive syndromes, and depressive disorders. Approaches to the assessment, taxonomy, and diagnosis of these 3 conceptualizations are reviewed. Each of the approaches is represented by different assessment tools measuring related but distinct aspects of depressive phenomena. The constructs share a common set of symptoms reflecting negative affectivity but differ in their inclusion of symptoms of anxiety, somatic problems, and disrupted concentration and in the duration and severity of the symptoms they include. Depressed mood, syndromes, and disorders are integrated as 3 levels of depressive phenomena in a hierarchical and sequential model, and moderating factors are hypothesized to account for the relationships among the 3 levels. The need for a stronger developmental focus to understand depressive phenomena during adolescence is emphasized.

Children’s Coping with Parental Illness

What happens to children when their mother or father is seriously ill? What is the impact of parental illness on their psychological and behavioral adjustment? Are children faced with certain types of stressors as a result of specific parental illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, or cancer? And how do children cope with the stress of having an ill parent? Are some coping responses associated with better psychological adjustment and others related to poorer adaptation? These questions form the basis for a growing interest in the consequences of parental physical illness for the psychological well-being of children (e.g., Compas et al., 1994; Lewis, Hammond, & Woods, 1993).

Attitudes and Factors Related to Seeking Mental Health Treatment Among Medical and Dental Students

Abstract Medical and dental students (N =315) were surveyed about current psychological distress, treatment status, perfectionism, and attitudes about mental health services. Although 23.8% of the students reported clinical levels of distress, only 7.6% of the sample reported receiving mental health treatment. Many students expressed concern about the stigma of seeking professional help, and distressed students who were not in treatment had higher levels of socially-prescribed perfectionism and held more negative attitudes about mental health services than distressed students seeking help.

Expecting the best: The relation between peer optimism and social competence

The present research evaluated the construct of optimism and its relation to childrens social competence. An optimism questionnaire was developed that specifically assessed childrens expectations with regard to their peer interactions and peer relationships. This measure demonstrated acceptable levels of internal and test–retest reliability and was consistent with a three-factor hierarchical factor structure. After removing effects attributable to grade and perceived self-competence, girls’ peer optimism was specifically and negatively associated with feelings of isolation and boys’ peer optimism was associated with a much broader range of social outcomes including higher sociometric status, more friendships, and lower levels of rejection, victimization, and loneliness. These findings highlight the importance of peer optimism for understanding childrens peer relations.

Psychosocial Stress and Child and Adolescent Depression

The development of depressed mood, syndromes, and disorders during childhood and adolescence is the consequence of a complex array of personal and social factors. Evidence has been garnered to support the role of biological, psychological, familial, peer, and broader social influences. Researchers are now faced with the formidable task of integrating the contributions of these factors to the development and maintenance of depressive phenomena in young people. It is likely that the strongest explanation will reflect a broad biopsychosocial model of the etiology and course of depressive experiences (Petersen, Compas, Brooks-Gunn, Stemmler, Ey, & Grant, 1993). Our concern here is with one component of a biopsychosocial model: stressful events and processes.

An exploratory study to investigate cognitive-motivational variables as predictors of health behaviours in adolescents

Objective This study examines the relation between cognitive-motivational variables and self-reported health behaviours among adolescents. Design Cross-sectional survey of adolescents via questionnaires delivered in classrooms. Setting One large junior high school and two senior high schools located in the Memphis area. Method Data from 257 7th to 12th graders were used to determine their practice of health behaviours as well as their perceptions of health status and vulnerability, optimism and rebelliousness/risk taking. Results Adolescent males and females who were less rebellious and had better health perceptions reported healthier behavioural practices. A stronger significant inverse relationship between perceived vulnerability and health behaviour scores was found for females. Optimism was significantly and positively correlated with health behaviour scores only among females. Adolescents in lower grades obtained higher health behaviour scores than adolescents in higher grades. Males had higher rebelliousness scores than females. Demographic and cognitive- motivational variables accounted for 26 per cent of the variance in health behaviour scores. Conclusion Cognitive-motivational factors should be considered when designing health promotion programmes for adolescents.