Predictors of the generation of episodic stress: A longitudinal study of late adolescent women.

Abstract

The effects of depression and Axis I comorbidity on subsequent self-generated life stress were examined in a longitudinal sample of 134 late adolescent women. The results indicated that specific forms of psychopathology constitute a risk factor for future self-generated episodic stress, even when controlling for prior chronic stress. Comorbid depression had a particularly salient effect in the prediction of stress related to interpersonal conflicts. The effects of family psychopathology and sociotropy were mediated through participant psychiatric status, whereas autonomy made an independent contribution to the prediction of episodic stress. These results support C. Hammen's (1991b) stress generation model in a community sample, demonstrating how individuals with depression play a role in the creation of stress, and also refine prior work by showing that only the comorbid form of depression is associated with subsequent conflict-related stress.

Stress Generation, Avoidance Coping, and Depressive Symptoms: A 10-Year Model.

“…A strength of the present study is that it extends stress-generation research, which has generally involved younger persons (e.g., Adrian & Hammen, 1993;Daley et al, 1997;Davila et al, 1997;Potthoff et al, 1995;Rudolph et al, 2000), to a late-middle-aged sample.…”

“…Specifically, the study addressed (a) the role of avoidance coping in prospectively generating both chronic and acute life stressors and (b) the stress-generating role of avoidance coping as a prospective link to future depressive symptoms. We examined these issues in a sample of 1,211 late-middle-aged women and men assessed three times over a 10-year period.A strength of the present study is that it extends stress-generation research, which has generally involved younger persons (e.g., Adrian & Hammen, 1993;Daley et al, 1997;Davila et al, 1997;Potthoff et al, 1995;Rudolph et al, 2000), to a late-middle-aged sample.The growing aging population in the United States has made depression among older persons a key mental health concern, with clinical psychologists focusing increasingly on the etiology (Gatz, 2000) and treatment (Karel, Ogland-Hand, Gatz, & Unuetzer, 2002) of later-life depression. The multiple waves of data and long time interval provided a unique opportunity to view the temporal unfolding of the stress-generation process (also see Chun, Cronkite, & Moos, 2004).…”

“…The multiple waves of data and long time interval provided a unique opportunity to view the temporal unfolding of the stress-generation process (also see Chun, Cronkite, & Moos, 2004). Representation of both women and men in the sample allowed us to broaden the stress-generation model beyond the traditional focus on women (Daley et al, 1997;Davila et al, 1997;Hammen, 1991).The present study is part of a longitudinal project on an initial sample of 1,884 late-middleaged individuals. Previous research with this sample has examined the emergence and course of late-life drinking (Moos, Brennan, & Moos, 1991;Schutte, Brennan, & Moos, 1994, 1998Schutte, Byrne, Brennan, & Moos, 2001) and adjustment to cardiac illness (Holahan et al, 1997).…”

“…Representation of both women and men in the sample allowed us to broaden the stress-generation model beyond the traditional focus on women (Daley et al, 1997;Davila et al, 1997;Hammen, 1991).…”

“…The range of scores was comparable across chronic stressor domains. A total chronic stressors measure was computed by standardizing and then summing chronic stressors across the eight subscales.Previous research has found that stress generation occurs with dependent stressors (i.e., stressors that are at least partly dependent on an individual's behavior) but not with independent stressors (Chun et al, 2004;Cui & Vaillant, 1997;Daley et al, 1997;Hammen, 1991;Harkness & Luther, 2001;Rudolph et al, 2000). We operationalized dependent stressors as those that are primarily self-related (e.g., financial difficulties and interpersonal strains) and independent stressors as those that are primarily other related (e.g., death or medical illness of family members or friends).…”