The Comorbidity of Conduct Problems and Depression in Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

An extensive body of research documents the high prevalence of comorbidity among child and adolescent disorders in general and between conduct problems and depression in particular. These problems co-occur at significantly higher rates than would be expected by chance and their comorbidity may have significant implications for nosology, treatment, and prognosis. Four main hypotheses have been put forth to account for these high rates of comorbidity. First, comorbidity may be a result of shortcomings associated with referral or informant biases. Second, comorbidity may be an artifact of overlapping definitional criteria. Third, one disorder may cause the other disorder by influencing the developmental trajectory and placing an individual at increased risk for further difficulties. Finally, comorbidity between two disorders may be explained by shared underlying causal or risk factors. The purpose of this review is to explore these possibilities, concentrating primarily on the common risk factors of parent psychopathology, emotion regulation, and cognitive biases that may underlie the co-occurrence of these two disorders. Based on our review, we propose a model for the development of comorbidity between these two disorders.

Peer Victimization in Childhood and Internalizing Problems in Adolescence: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

“…Anxiety (Rapee et al, 2009) and externalizing problems (Wolff and Ollendick 2006) in childhood are potential precursors of depression. Presence of any Axis I DSM-IV diagnosis (i.e.…”

The Effectiveness of the Learning to BREATHE Program on Adolescent Emotion Regulation

“…Conversely, deficits in in emotion regulation represent a core feature of many emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence such as anxiety, depression, self-injury, and substance abuse (Wolff & Ollendick, 2006). Internalizing disorders are fundamentally disorders of affect and are exacerbated by poor affective cognitive management strategies such as suppression and rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008).…”

School Environment and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Multilevel Longitudinal Study

“…24,25 In this study, we use longitudinal multilevel modeling in a large populationbased prospective sample of adolescents to examine the association between overall school socioeducational environment and adolescent depressive symptoms over time. We investigate this relation adjusting for previous depressive symptoms and relevant potential confounders that have previously been associated with depressive symptomatology at the individual and school levels, including family adversity and relationships, 26,27 associated internalizing (anxiety) and externalizing (conduct) problems, 28,29 and school size. 30 Furthermore, although this is not our main focus, we examine whether perceived socioeducational environment at the student level is predictive of depressive symptoms.…”