Interpersonal Impairment and the Prediction of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Children of Depressed and Nondepressed Mothers

Hammen, Constance; Shih, Josephine H.; Altman, Tamara; Brennan, Patricia A.

doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000046829.95464.e5

Cited by 98 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Enmeshed and overpersonalized family interactions create stress by threatening developing adolescent autonomy, but by their very nature they also make it difficult for parents to assuage this stress (as it is the lack of autonomy from parents that is creating it). Similarly, depressive symptoms typically embody a sense of personal helplessness and convey great distress that also tends to undermine close relationships (Daley & Hammen, 2002;Hammen, Shih, Altman, & Brennan, 2003), as does poverty, albeit through different mechanisms (Conger et al, 1994). In short, when adolescents, for whatever reason, no longer have a truly functional secure base relationship with a caregiver capable of helping them cope with stressors they face, they appear at risk for decreasing attachment security over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability and Change in Attachment Security Across Adolescence

et al. 2004

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This study examined both continuity and familial, intrapsychic, and environmental predictors of change in adolescent attachment security across a 2-year period from middle to late adolescence. Assessments included the Adult Attachment Interview, observed mother -adolescent interactions, test-based data, and adolescent selfreports obtained from an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of moderately at-risk adolescents interviewed at ages 16 and 18. Substantial stability in security was identified. Beyond this stability, however, relative declines in attachment security were predicted by adolescents' enmeshed, overpersonalizing behavior with their mothers; depressive symptoms; and poverty status. Results suggest that although security may trend upward for nonstressed adolescents, stressors that overwhelm the capacity for affect regulation and that are not easily assuaged by parents predict relative declines in security over time.Given growing evidence of the importance of attachment security in adolescence and adulthood (Allen, Moore, Kuperminc, & Bell, 1998;Furman & Flanagan, 1997;Kobak, Sudler, & Gamble, 1991; van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1996), one of the central questions in attachment research becomes understanding the sources of continuity and discontinuity in attachment security during this period. Bowlby (1980) described the attachment system as being likely to display significant stability over time but also as open to modification given certain types of environmental input. This study examined both continuity and predictors of change in levels of attachment security from middle to late adolescence.Middle to late adolescence appears as a particularly important and promising time to examine continuities and predictors of change in attachment security. The cognitive and relational transformations of adolescence have the potential to influence significantly adolescents' developing states of mind with respect to attachment, possibly leading to significant discontinuities over time in these states of mind (Allen & Land, 1999). In adolescence, only two preliminary, small-sample studies (e.g., each with fewer than 40 participants) with low-risk samples have assessed attachment stability in this period, reporting moderate stability from ages 16 to 18 in a German sample (Zimmermann & Becker-Stoll, 2002) and from ages 14 to 18 in an Italian sample (Ammaniti, van IJzendoorn, Speranza, & Tambelli, 2000). Studies examining attachment stability are now clearly needed not only with larger samples but also with the types of moderate-risk samples within which many of the links between attachment and functioning have been established. Documenting the degree of actual continuity in attachment security across adolescence is only a first step in understanding the development of the attachment system during this period, however. Identifying predictors of future change in levels of attachment security is a critical next step toward building models explaining the linkages between adolescents' psychosocial en...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability and Change in Attachment Security Across Adolescence

et al. 2004

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“…First, families should be included in the assessment process, regardless of whether they are included in the treatment process. Valuable information can be gleaned about the general family atmosphere, specific relationships, availability, and affect within the family that can impact the child (Costello et al, 2002;Fendrich et al, 1990;Hammen et al, 2003). Next, fathers and mothers are both important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A similar multidimensional approach guided a longitudinal study of families recruited near the time of their child's birth, who were followed through the child's adolescence (Hammen, Shih, Altmann, & Brennan, 2003). Consistent with Goodman and Gotlib's fourth proposed mechanism of parent child transmission (stress and the environmental context), Hammen and her colleagues included measures of environmental stress and interpersonal support.…”

Section: Parent and Family Risk Factors For Youth Depression Parent Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Youth Depression in the Family Context: Familial Risk Factors and Models of Treatment

Sander

McCarty

2005

Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev

175

127

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Research on parent risk factors, family environment, and familial involvement in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents is integrated, providing an update to prior reviews on the topic. First, the psychosocial parent and family factors associated with youth depression are examined. The literature indicates that a broad array of parent and family factors is associated with youth risk for depression, ranging from parental pathology to parental cognitive style to family emotional climate. Next, treatment approaches for youth depression that have been empirically tested are described and then summarized in terms of their level of parent inclusion, including cognitivebehavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and family systems approaches. Families have mostly not been incorporated into clinical treatment research with depressed adolescents, with only 32% of treatments including parents in treatment in any capacity. Nonetheless, the overall effectiveness of treatments that involve children and adolescents exclusively is very similar to that of treatments that include parents as agents or facilitators of change. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and directions for further research. Keywordsdepression; adolescence; childhood; treatment; parent factors; family risk factors Developmentally, youth are known to have close ties to their families of origin (Diamond, Siqueland, & Diamond, 2003;Steinberg, 2005). As a result, there is a general belief in the field of psychology that it is important to include parents and families in the treatment of depressed youth (Clark, Beck, & Alford, 1999;Curry, 2001) however, empirical guidelines for how to do so are lacking. Consensus about the need for, and how to measure the effects of, parental involvement in treatment is elusive (Goodman & Gotlib, 1999). Still, achieving a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of risks for depression and how parent involvement in treatment relates to those risks are the priorities for the area of youth depression.Recently, a national group of experts was called to summarize and prioritize the state of research on risk and treatment for youth depression. Specifically, the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) invited a workgroup of leaders in the field of depression to clarify the state of information about the risks for and treatment of depression, and to make recommendations on where the field needs to focus research endeavors (Costello et al., 2002). Regarding risks for depression, the workgroup recommended further research into both family environment and genetics. As summarized by Costello and the NIMH workgroup, multiple pathways to depression are evident. The workgroup emphasized the multidimensional NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript nature of depression, along with the paucity of research into the early pathways and interactions that cause depression. Although research has not identified all of the parent or family ...

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“…Hammen and Brennan (2001) have suggested that children of depressed mothers may acquire dysfunctional interpersonal skills through observation of and interaction with depressed mothers, who themselves are highly likely to show maladaptive interpersonal patterns and chronic relationship difficulties. Support for this hypothesis has been obtained in studies showing that depressed children of depressed mothers have poorer social role functioning, higher levels of interpersonal difficulties, and more negative cognitions about their own social abilities than do depressed children of nondepressed mothers (Hammen & Brennan, 2001;Hammen, Shih, Altman, & Brennan, 2003). These social deficits, in turn, are hypothesized to contribute to the intergenerational transmission of depression, in part through the generation of stressful life events (Hammen, 1991).…”

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confidence: 97%

Adolescent psychosocial risk factors for severe intimate partner violence in young adulthood.

Keenan‐Miller¹,

Hammen²,

Brennan³

2007

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

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The authors examined prospective measures of psychosocial risk factors as predictors of severe intimate partner violence among a community sample of 610 young adults at risk for intergenerational transmission of depression. The hypothesized risk factors were youth history of depression by age 15 and maternal history of depression. Youth social functioning at age 15 was tested as a mediator of these associations. Results showed that youth history of depression by age 15 predicted victimization at age 20. Severe violence perpetration was predicted by maternal depressive history among women but not men. Youth social functioning was a partial mediator of both associations. In sum, the findings suggest that psychosocial factors observed in adolescence may contribute to the risk of experiencing severe intimate partner violence during young adulthood.

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Interpersonal Impairment and the Prediction of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Children of Depressed and Nondepressed Mothers

Cited by 98 publications

References 19 publications

Stability and Change in Attachment Security Across Adolescence

Stability and Change in Attachment Security Across Adolescence

Youth Depression in the Family Context: Familial Risk Factors and Models of Treatment

Adolescent psychosocial risk factors for severe intimate partner violence in young adulthood.

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