Strategies that children use for coping with stressors are known to be related to emotional adjustment, but not enough is understood about specific links with social anxiety and depression. The present investigation tested differentiated associations of social anxiety and depression with specific types of coping strategies, and evaluated the direction of these associations over time. In Study 1, 404 children aged 8-13 years completed a coping scale modified from Kochendefer-Ladd and Skinner (Developmental Psychology 38:267-278, 2002) in order to evaluate factor structure and subscale internal consistency. In Study 2, 270 8-11-year-old children completed depression and social anxiety scales, a sociometric survey, and the coping scale from Study 1, with a follow-up timepoint 9 months later. In Study 1, factor analysis revealed six internally consistent coping subscales. In Study 2, social anxiety and depression were found to have distinctive longitudinal associations with subsequent coping strategies. Decreased problem-solving, social support-seeking, and distraction were uniquely predicted by depression but not by social anxiety. Internalising coping was a stronger outcome of social anxiety, and increased externalising was uniquely predicted by depression. There was also some evidence for a moderating role of peer relations. However, none of the coping strategies predicted changes in depression or social anxiety over the two timepoints. These results highlight the impact that emotional adjustment may have on children's coping strategies, and clarify important distinctions between social anxiety and depression in relation to coping.Keywords Social anxiety . Depression . Coping . Peer relations . LongitudinalResearch has shown that social anxiety and depression regularly co-occur (Ingram et al. 2001). For instance, of people with a lifetime diagnosis of social phobia, 37.2% also had a lifetime diagnosis of major depression (Kessler et al. 1994). There is also substantial co-morbidity between depression and social anxiety in childhood, with a review by King et al. (1991) finding correlations based on self-reports ranging from 0.40 to 0.70 in clinical and non-clinical samples. Nonetheless, there is also clear evidence of differentiation between social anxiety and depression with respect to various behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics (Brady and Kendall 1992;Ogul and Gencoz 2003;Hong 2007).In an attempt to understand these similarities and differences, the tripartite model of anxiety and depression Psychol (2010) 38:405-419 DOI 10.1007 (Clark and Watson 1991) proposes that there is a common core of high negative affect (e.g., feeling upset) in both disorders, but also that positive affect (e.g., enthusiasm) is low especially in depression, whereas physiological hyperarousal (e.g., nervousness) is high especially in anxiety. This model has also been used as a framework for understanding these conditions in children (e.g., Crook et al. 1998;Laurent and Ettelson 2001), and though there has bee...

BackgroundSymptoms of depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in adolescence and they are the cause of considerable suffering. Even so, adolescents are not inclined to seek professional help for emotional problems. Internet-based preventive interventions have been suggested as a feasible method of providing appropriate care to adolescents with internalizing symptoms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of preventive Internet-based (guided) self-help problem-solving therapy (PST) for adolescents reporting mild to moderate symptoms of depression and/or anxiety as compared to a waiting list control group (WL).Methodology/Principal FindingsA total of 45 participants were randomized to the 2 conditions. PST consisted of 5 weekly lessons. Participants were supported by e-mail. Self-report measures of depression and anxiety were filled in at baseline and after 3 weeks, 5 weeks, and 4 months. Of the 45 participants, 28 (62.2%) completed questionnaires after 3 weeks, 28 (62.2%) after 5 weeks, and 27 (60%) after 4 months. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed overall improvement over time for both groups on depressive and anxiety symptoms. However, no significant group x time interactions were found. No differences were found between completers and non-completers.Conclusions/Significance Results show that depressive and anxiety symptoms declined in both groups. No support was found, however, for the assumption that Internet-based PST was efficacious in reducing depression and anxiety in comparison to the waiting list control group. This finding could represent lack of power.Trial RegistrationNetherlands Trial Register NTR1322

We believe that primary care physicians could play a key role in engaging youth with a depression prevention intervention. We developed CATCH-IT (Competent Adulthood Transition with Cognitive Behavioral and Interpersonal Training), an adolescent Internet-based behavior change model. We conducted a randomized comparison of two approaches in engaging adolescents with the Internet intervention: primary care physician (PCP) motivational interview + CATCH-IT Internet program (MI) versus PCP brief advice + CATCH-IT Internet program (BA). Participants (N=84) were recruited by screening for risk of depression in 13 primary care practices. We compared depressive disorder outcomes between groups and within groups over 6 months and examined potential predictors and moderators of outcomes across both study arms. Depressive symptom scores declined from baseline to 6 weeks with these statistically significant reductions sustained at the 6 months follow-up in both groups. No significant interactions with treatment condition were found. However, by 6 months, the MI group demonstrated significantly fewer depressive episodes and reported less hopelessness as compared to the BA group. Hierarchical linear modeling regressions showed higher ratings of ease of use of the Internet program predicting lower depressive symptom levels over 6 months. In conclusion, a primary care/Internet-based intervention model among adolescents demonstrated reductions in depressed mood over 6 months and may result in fewer depressive episodes.

Background: Even though depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in adolescence, youngsters are not inclined to seek help in regular healthcare. Therapy through the Internet, however, has been found to appeal strongly to young people. The main aim of the present study is to examine the efficacy of preventive Internet-based guided self-help problem-solving therapy with adolescents reporting depressive and anxiety symptoms. A secondary objective is to test potential mediating and moderating variables in order to gain insight into how the intervention works and for whom it works best.

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