Depressogenic self-schemas are associated with smaller regional grey matter volume in never-depressed preadolescents

Incremental validity of ERP correlates of self-referential processing in predicting emerging depressive symptoms in late childhood: Evidence from a community-dwelling sample

Depressogenic self-referential processing (e.g., self-schemas reflecting shallower processing of positive, and deeper processing of negative, self-descriptive words) is an established cognitive vulnerability to depression. Alterations of event-related potentials (ERPs) during self-referential processing have been observed in adolescents with depression risk or clinical depression. However, no study has examined ERPs associated with self-referential processing in typical-risk youth with emerging depressive symptoms during late childhood, a high-risk period for depression. It is also unclear to what extent ERPs provide incremental validity in predicting symptoms beyond performance on self-referential processing tasks. Sixty-five community-dwelling children (38 girls; mean age/SD = 11.02/1.59 years) completed a self-referent encoding task (SRET) with EEG recorded. Children showed a larger P2 and a larger late positive potential (LPP) in response to positive SRET stimuli versus negative stimuli. Hierarchical regression showed that in the positive condition only, including ERP correlates (P1, P2, LPP) and interactions between the ERPs and positive SRET score increased the explained variation in depressive symptoms beyond behavioral SRET performance. The LPP in response to positive words was associated with lower depressive symptoms. The P1 and P2 in response to positive words interacted with positive SRET score, such that the association between positive SRET score and symptoms was significant in children with greater P1 but smaller P2. We provide novel evidence supporting the incremental validity of ERPs beyond behavioral makers in predicting emerging depressive symptoms in children. Our findings also highlight the moderating role of ERP activity in strengthening the association between behavioral markers of self-schemas and depressive outcomes.

The development of depressogenic self-schemas: Associations with children's regional grey matter volume in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

Cognitive theories of depression contend that biased cognitive information processing plays a causal role in the development of depression. Extensive research shows that deeper processing of negative and/or shallower processing of positive self-descriptors (i.e., negative and positive self-schemas) predicts current and future depression in adults and children. However, the neural correlates of the development of self-referent encoding are poorly understood. We examined children's self-referential processing using the self-referent encoding task (SRET) collected from 74 children at ages 6, 9, and 12; around age 10, these children also contributed structural magnetic resonance imaging data. From age 6 to age 12, both positive and negative self-referential processing showed mean-level growth, with positive self-schemas increasing relatively faster than negative ones. Further, voxel-based morphometry showed that slower growth in positive self-schemas was associated with lower regional gray matter volume (GMV) in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Our results suggest that smaller regional GMV within vlPFC, a critical region for regulatory control in affective processing and emotion development, may have implications for the development of depressogenic self-referential processing in mid-to-late childhood.

The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Academic Procrastination between Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Depressive symptoms, a prevalent mood illness, significantly harm college students' physical and mental health. Individuals have experienced some degree of psychological harm as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking this into account, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) and depressive symptoms among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the mediating roles of perceived stress and academic procrastination. A total of 586 college students were subjected to the Physical Activity Scale (PARS-3), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Findings from this research demonstrated that there was a significant positive correlation between perceived stress, academic procrastination, and depressive symptoms, while PA was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress, academic procrastination, and depressive symptoms. The results of the chain mediation analysis showed that PA had a significant direct effect on depressive symptoms. Perceived stress, academic procrastination, and perceived stress-academic procrastination had significant mediating and chain mediating effects on the relationship between PA and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, PA among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic affects their depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through the independent mediating effect of perceived stress and academic procrastination, as well as the chain mediating effect of perceived stress and academic procrastination.