Stress Generation in Adolescent Depression: The Moderating Role of Child Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

The present study examined the role of childhood abuse and neglect and depression recurrence in moderating the generation of stressful life events in adolescent depression. Maltreatment history and stressful life events were assessed using two rigorous contextual interviews and rating systems. In a sample of 59 community depressed adolescents we found significantly higher rates of interpersonal events in the 3-month period immediately following depression episode onset versus the 3-month period immediately preceding onset in adolescents with a history of childhood maltreatment. By contrast, rates of events remained constant over a matched period in a control group of non-maltreated adolescents. Furthermore, the generation of interpersonal events only held among those on a first onset of depression. These results suggest that a history of childhood abuse and neglect exacerbates the psychosocial dysfunction associated with the onset of depression, particularly in the very first episode.

The differential relation of childhood maltreatment to stress sensitization in adolescent and young adult depression

“…Although this finding requires replication to confirm its robustness, it is in line with previous studies showing that a history of CM is associated with the generation of SLEs (Hankin, 2005;Harkness, Lumley, & Truss, 2008). That is, individuals with a maltreatment history may create environmental contexts that engender dependent SLEs (e.g., interpersonal conflicts, rejection).…”

Post-disaster stressful life events and WTC-related posttraumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and overall functioning among responders to the World Trade Center disaster

“…(Hankin and Abramson, 2001) Indeed, there can be reciprocal relations between life stress and mental health. (Hammen and Brennan, 2001;Harkness et al, 2008;Shih et al, 2009) Drawing from such work, it is possible that among WTC responders, stressful life events after the disaster may account for the experience of more chronic and severe posttraumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and overall functioning. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, the interplay between disaster exposure, initial mental health status, postdisaster stressful life events, and the maintenance of posttraumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and overall functioning has yet to be directly explored among those affected by the WTC disaster.…”

Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression in Canadian and Chinese Adolescents

“…Self-generated stressors have alternatively been labeled dependent stressors because their occurrence is in part dependent on the actions of the individual, as opposed to fateful stressors that occur independent of a person’s actions. While stress generation was initially examined in adults (e.g., Hammen 1991), there has been accumulating evidence for stress generation in children and adolescents (e.g., Adrian and Hammen 1993; Carter et al 2006; Cole et al 2006; Harkness et al 2008; Rudolph et al 2000; Rudolph 2008; Rudolph and Hammen 1999; Shih et al 2009; Wingate and Joiner 2004). …”