Generation of stress in the course of unipolar depression

Stressful life events and trajectories of depression symptoms in a U.S. military cohort

Depression is a common mental disorder that may comprise distinct, underlying symptom patterns over time. Associations between stressful life events throughout the civilian lifecourse-including during childhood-and adult depression have been documented in many populations, but are less commonly assessed in military samples. We identified different trajectories of depression symptoms across four years in a military cohort using latent class growth analysis, and investigated the relationship between these trajectories and two domains of civilian life experiences: childhood adversity (e.g., being mistreated during childhood) and more proximal stressful experiences (e.g., divorce). A four-group depression model was identified, including a symptom-free group (62%), an increasing symptom group (13%), a decreasing symptom group (16%), and a "chronic" symptom group (9%). Compared to the symptom-free group, soldiers with childhood adversity were more likely to be in the chronic depression, decreasing, and increasing symptom groups. Time-varying adult stressors had the largest effect on depression symptoms for the increasing symptom group compared to other groups, particularly in the last two years of follow-up. This study indicates the importance of considering events from throughout the lifecourse-not only those from deployment-when studying the mental health of servicemembers.

Exhausted Heart Rate Responses to Repeated Psychological Stress in Women With Major Depressive Disorder

Past research links depression and blunted cardiac vagal reactivity to chronic stress. Yet, to our knowledge no experiment investigates heart rate (variability) responses to a repeated laboratory stressor in patients with depression. Repeated exposure may provide valuable information on stress reactivity in depression. Fifty-nine women (30 inpatients diagnosed with depression and 29 matched controls) underwent two consecutive runs of a mental arithmetic stress paradigm consisting of one baseline and two exposures to control, stress, and recovery phases of 5 min each, in a case-control design. Subjective stress and electrocardiography were recorded. Variance of heart rate (HR) and root mean square of successive RR interval differences (RMSSD) were analyzed using linear mixed models. Overall, physiological parameters (HR and RMSSD) and subjective stress showed a strong group effect (all p < 0.001). In both groups, subjective stress and HR increased in response to stress, but the subjective stress levels of patients with depression did not return to baseline levels after the first stressor and for the remainder of the experiment (all p < 0.004 compared to baseline). Patients' HR reactivity responded oppositely: while HR recovered after the first stress exposure, no reactivity was observed in response to the second exposure. These findings may suggest that the often-reported blunted HR/HRV response to stressors results from exhaustion rather than an incapacity to react to stress. The altered HR reactivity could indicate allostatic (over-) load in depression.

Validation of the Greek version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale in Undergraduate Students

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) number at least 3.81 billion users worldwide, while in Greece, 74.7% of internet users resort to SNSs. However, there is no instrument adapted to the Greek language that assesses addiction to SNSs. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale is a short 6-item questionnaire that assesses social media addiction. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. The sample consisted of 325 University students (mean age 21.6 years, SD=5.26). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed that supported the one-factor model. The reliability of the tool was tested with various indicators and was found to be satisfactory. The regression analysis identified gender, time of SNSs use, number of SNSs held by an individual and stress as statistically significant predictors of SNSs addiction. Positive correlations were found between SNSs addiction and stress, depression, anxiety and loneliness, while negative correlations were observed between SNSs addiction, self-esteem and age. Stress fully mediated the relationship between depression and SNSs addiction. The findings of the present study indicate that the Greek version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing SNSs addiction. The relationship between SNSs addiction and the biopsychosocial model was confirmed.

Determinants of workers' well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak: An exploratory study

Inspired by the Conservation of Resource theory (Hobfoll, 1989), this study investigated the role of a broad set of personal vulnerabilities, social, and work-related stressors and resources as predictors of workers' well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants were 594 workers in Italy. Results showed that personality predispostions, such as positivity, neuroticism and conscientiousness as well as key aspects of the individuals' relationship with their work (such as job insecurity, type of employment contract or trust in the organization) emerged as factors promoting (or hampering) workers' adjustment during the COVID -19 outbreak. Interactions between stressors and resources were also found and discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02408-w.

Reformulated Object Relations Theory: A Bridge Between Clinical Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy Integration, and the Understanding and Treatment of Suicidal Depression

In contrast to the fruitful relationship between psychoanalysis/psychoanalysts and the humanities, institutionalized psychoanalysis has been largely resistant to the integration of psychoanalysis with other empirical branches of knowledge (infant observation, psychotherapy research, psychological and neurobiological sciences), as well as clinical ones [primarily cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)]. Drawing from two decades of theoretical and empirical work on psychopathology, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis, the author aims to show how a reformulation of object relations theory (RORT) using (neuro-)psychological science may enhance a clinical-psychoanalytic understanding and treatment of suicidal depression, which constitutes one of the most formidable health challenges of our time. Specifically, he rewrote the notion of Melanie Klein positions-primarily the depressive position-using extant knowledge of structure of emotions, the centrality of mental representations of the future ("prospection") and the toxic nature of criticism-based emotions. This reformulation enables a dialog between clinical psychoanalysis and other therapeutic schools of thought and sheds light on the understanding and treatment of suicidal depression.

Three-way interaction effects of early life stress, positive parenting and FKBP5 in the development of depressive symptoms in a general population

FKBP5 gene–environment interaction (cG × E) studies have shown diverse results, some indicating significant interaction effects between the gene and environmental stressors on depression, while others lack such results. Moreover, FKBP5 has a potential role in the diathesis stress and differential susceptibility theorem. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a cG × E interaction effect of FKBP5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or haplotype and early life stress (ELS) on depressive symptoms among young adults was moderated by a positive parenting style (PASCQ^pos), through the frameworks of the diathesis stress and differential susceptibility theorem. Data were obtained from the Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland Cohort Study, including 1006 participants and their guardians. Data were collected during 2012, when the participants were 13 and 15 years old (Wave I: DNA), 2015, when participants were 16 and 18 years old (Wave II: PASCQ^pos, depressive symptomology and ELS) and 2018, when participants were 19 and 21 years old (Wave III: depressive symptomology). Significant three-way interactions were found for the FKBP5 SNPs rs1360780, rs4713916, rs7748266 and rs9394309, moderated by ELS and PASCQ^pos, on depressive symptoms among young adults. Diathesis stress patterns of interaction were observed for the FKBP5 SNPs rs1360780, rs4713916 and rs9394309, and differential susceptibility patterns of interaction were observed for the FKBP5 SNP rs7748266. Findings emphasize the possible role of FKBP5 in the development of depressive symptoms among young adults and contribute to the understanding of possible differential susceptibility effects of FKBP5.

The Psychological Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic Restrictions in Italy. The Mediating Role of the Fear of COVID-19 in the Relationship between Positive and Negative Affect with Positive and Negative Outcomes

Italy was quickly hit hard by the coronavirus. 'Lockdown' has significantly impacted the psychological health, personal wellbeing and quality of life of the people. The study aims to explore the relationship between positive and negative affect, as well as positive (spiritual well-being and flourishing) and negative outcomes (psychological distress caused by a traumatic life event in terms of perception of PTSD symptoms) on Italian adults during the lockdown period. Data was collected between April and May 2020. The participants were 281 Italian adults aged between 18 and 73 years. The survey was composed of the following measures: Flourishing Scale, Jarel Spiritual Well-Being scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Fear of COVID-19. The mediational analysis shows that fear of COVID-19 fully mediates the relationship between negative affect and spiritual well-being and flourishing; fear of COVID-19 partially mediates the relationship between negative affect and PTSD symptoms; the positive affect shows only direct effects on positive outcomes. Therefore, fear of COVID-19 does not play any mediation role. Implications for psychological interventions and future research will be discussed.

Dispositional Negative Emotionality in Childhood and Adolescence Predicts Structural Variation in the Amygdala and Caudal Anterior Cingulate During Early Adulthood: Theoretically and Empirically Based Tests

Substantial evidence implicates the amygdala and related structures in the processing of negative emotions. Furthermore, neuroimaging evidence suggests that variations in amygdala volumes are related to trait-like individual differences in neuroticism/negative emotionality, although many questions remain about the nature of such associations. We conducted planned tests of the directional prediction that dispositional negative emotionality measured at 10-17 years using parent and youth ratings on the Child and Adolescent Dispositions Scale (CADS) would predict larger volumes of the amygdala in adulthood and conducted exploratory tests of associations with other regions implicated in emotion processing. Participants were 433 twins strategically selected for neuroimaging during wave 2 from wave 1 of the Tennessee Twins Study (TTS) by oversampling on internalizing and/or externalizing psychopathology risk. Controlling for age, sex, race-ethnicity, handedness, scanner, and total brain volume, youth-rated negative emotionality positively predicted bilateral amygdala volumes after correction for multiple testing. Each unit difference of one standard deviation (SD) in negative emotionality was associated with a .12 SD unit difference in larger volumes of both amygdalae. Parent-rated negative emotionality predicted greater thickness of the left caudal/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (β = 0.28). Associations of brain structure with negative emotionality were not moderated by sex. These results are striking because dispositions assessed at 10-17 years of age were predictive of grey matter volumes measured 12-13 years later in adulthood. Future longitudinal studies should examine the timing of amygdala/cingulate associations with dispositional negative emotionality to determine when these associations emerge during development.

Persistent Low Positive Affect and Sleep Disturbance across Adolescence Moderate Link between Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adulthood

The purpose of this study was to characterize the association between recent major life events and depressive symptoms during early adulthood, and to determine whether adolescents with chronically low positive affect or persistent sleep disturbance were more vulnerable to the link between stress and depressive symptoms. Adolescents (n = 147; 63.9% female; 33.7% non-Hispanic white) were recruited in 10th-11th grade and re-assessed 2 and 4 years later. At each assessment, adolescents completed measures of positive affect and sleep disturbances. At the final assessment, participants reported on their exposure to major life events in the past 12 months. Exposure to more major life events in the past year was associated with greater depressive symptoms in early adulthood. Chronically low positive affect and persistent sleep disturbances throughout adolescence each independently moderated this relationship. Specifically, only participants reporting low positive affect across the three assessments showed a positive and significant association between major life events and depressive symptoms. Further, only participants reporting sleep disturbances at all three assessments showed a positive and significant association between major life events and depressive symptoms. Chronically low positive affect and persistent sleep disturbances during adolescence may be useful indicators of risk for depression during early adulthood. Further, interventions targeting adolescent sleep disturbances and improving positive affect may be useful in reducing the risk for depression following life stress during this high risk developmental phase.

The Impact of Childhood and Adult Educational Attainment and Economic Status on Later Depressive Symptoms and Its Intergenerational Effect

This study aimed to investigate a process accounting for the socioeconomic inequality in depressive symptoms from generation to generation. To examine the process, this study utilized data from three generations of grandparents, mothers, and daughters. This study employed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families, collected from a large-scale national representative sample in South Korea. Conducting pathway analysis, the study tested direct and indirect pathways between mother's socioeconomic status (SES) experienced in childhood and their offspring's depressive symptoms through maternal SES and depressive symptoms in adulthood. This study found that early economic hardship increased the risk of depressive symptoms in daughters through maternal low education and depressive symptoms (β = 0.03, p < 0.05), which was consistent with the theoretical framework, which relied on a life-course model highlighting that early life experiences affect later adult health and can potentially have effects across generations. This finding suggests that interventions that work with maternal education and depression may benefit from efforts to break the likelihood of continuity of depressive symptoms into the next generation, especially for their own daughters.

Latent Profiles of Cognitive and Interpersonal Risk Factors for Adolescent Depression and Implications for Personalized Treatment

A personalized approach to treatment with patients being matched to the best-fit treatment has been proposed as one possible solution to the currently modest treatment response rates for adolescent depression. Personalized treatment involves identifying and characterizing subgroups likely to respond differently to different treatments. We investigated the feasibility of this approach, by focusing on two key risk factors that are the purported treatment targets of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents (IPT-A): negative unrealistic cognitions and interpersonal relationship difficulties, respectively. We sought to learn whether subgroups high and low on the two risk factors, respectively, might be identified in a large sample of depressed, treatment-seeking adolescents. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted on measures of the two risk factors among 431 adolescents (age 12-17) in the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study. LCA identified three classes: (1) adolescents with high levels of problems in both family relationships and cognitions (21.6% of sample), (2) adolescents with moderate levels of problems in both domains (52.4%), and (3) adolescents with low levels of problems in both domains (26.0%). These subgroups did not predict treatment outcome with CBT or CBT + fluoxetine (COMB). The results challenge a current assumption about how treatments could be personalized, and they support a multi-causal model of depression rather than a risk-factor-specific model. Strategies other than risk factor-based personalizing for case assignment to CBT vs. IPT-A are discussed.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Stressful Life Events and their Associations with Executive Functions in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin Analysis

Although stress is frequently considered an environmental factor, dependent stressful life events (SLEs)--stressors that result from one's actions or behaviors--may in fact be evoked by a genetic liability. It has been suggested that dependent SLEs may be partially caused by poor executive function (EFs), higher-level cognitive abilities that enable individuals to implement goal-directed behavior. We investigated the possibility of genetic and environmental overlap between SLEs and EFs in a longitudinal twin study. We found high genetic stability in the number of dependent SLEs from age 23 to age 29, suggesting that the number of dependent stressors show persistence across time due to their genetic etiology. In addition, there was a nominally significant negative genetic correlation between a Common EF latent factor and dependent SLEs at age 23. The genetic stability of dependent SLEs and association with Common EF provides insight into how some behaviors may lead to persistent stress.

Transitions in coping profiles after breast cancer diagnosis: implications for depressive and physical symptoms

The objective of this study was to determine whether: (a) cancer-related coping profiles change across time; (b) coping profile transition types predict changes in depressive and physical symptoms. Latent transition analysis was conducted with repeated measures of seven cancer-related coping processes from 460 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. In multilevel models, coping profile transition groups were entered as predictors of symptoms across 12 months. Three coping profiles emerged at study entry, with two profiles at later assessments. Forty-eight percent of women maintained high-moderate approach-oriented coping over time. Specific factors (e.g., age, acceptance of emotions) differentiated the transition groups. Women who increased and then maintained high-moderate approach-oriented coping had relatively high initial depressive symptoms that declined steeply. When cancer-related acceptance predominated, women experienced increasing physical symptoms. Distinct cancer-related coping patterns are related to the level of and change in depressive and physical symptoms longitudinally. Early intervention to increase approach-oriented coping strategies could yield favorable outcomes.

Factors Associated With Depressive Episode Recurrences in Primary Care: A Retrospective, Descriptive Study

Introduction and Objective

The early identification of depressive patients having a poor evolution, with frequent relapses and/or recurrences, is one of the priority challenges in this study of high prevalence mental disorders, and specifically in depression. So, this study aims to analyze the factors that may be associated with an increased risk of recurrence of major depression episodes in patients treated in primary care.

Methods

A retrospective, descriptive study of cases-controls was proposed. The cases consisted of patients who had been diagnosed with major depression and who had presented recurrences (n = 101), in comparison with patients who had experienced a single major depression episode with no recurrence (n = 99). The variables of the study are age at first episode; number of episodes; perception of severity of the depression episode suffered prior to recurrence; number of residual symptoms; physical and psychiatric comorbidity; history of anxiety disorders; family psychiatric history; high incidence of stressful life events (SLEs); and experiences of physical, psychological, or sexual abuse in childhood. The differences of the variables were compared between the case subjects and the control subjects, using the Mann-Whitney, chi-square, and Fisher's U statistics. A multivariate analysis (ordinary logistic regression) was performed.

Results

The average age of those suffering more than one depressive episode is significantly older (5 years), and a higher percentage of subjects who have experienced more than one depressive episode have a history of anxiety disorders. In the multivariate analysis, the variables that obtained a significant value in the logistic regression analysis were age (OR: 1.03; value: 0.007) and having suffered sexual abuse during childhood (OR: 1.64; value: 0.072).

Conclusion

These indicators should be considered by primary care physicians when attending patients suffering from major depression.

Depression and family arguments: disentangling reciprocal effects for women and men

BACKGROUND

Depression is a debilitating condition that affects the individual and the family.

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to identify potential reciprocal influences between family arguments and depressive symptoms among clinically depressed patients over a 23-year span.

METHODS

The present study employed a longitudinal, observational design with 424 depressed patients. Separate cross-lagged path models examined longitudinal associations for women and men over 23 years while adjusting for age, income, and marital and parental status.

RESULTS

Among depressed men, more severe baseline depressive symptoms predicted more family arguments 10 years later. Among depressed women, more severe baseline depressive symptoms predicted fewer family arguments 1 year later, while more severe depressive symptoms at 10-year follow-up predicted more family arguments at 23-year follow-up. More family arguments predicted more severe depressive symptoms among women and men, with some variation in the time intervals of these associations.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that while depressive symptoms may temporarily diminish family arguments among women, such symptoms were associated with more family arguments over longer time intervals. Moreover, family arguments put depressed men and women at risk for more severe depressive symptoms. These results support the use of screening for family arguments and interventions to help depressed individuals develop skills to manage interpersonal conflict.

The reciprocal impacts of adversity and personality traits: A prospective longitudinal study of growth, change, and the power of personality

OBJECTIVE

We integrate the study of post-traumatic growth with personality science by examining the reciprocal effects of adversity and core personality traits. We implemented conceptual (i.e., incorporating personality traits into the study of adversity-related growth, examining trait-specific and configural personality change, and adopting a cumulative approach to adversity) and methodological (i.e., three-wave prospective design, assessing many life events, sampling from populations likely to experience adversity) innovations to advance the study of personality development and of the generality of adversity-related growth.

METHOD

A diverse sample (41% nonwhite, 48% low-income, 68% female, M_age  = 44, 30% diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) participated in a three-wave prospective longitudinal study (N = 258-128 across waves). Participants completed a personality inventory and a battery of life-event surveys (including 105 events) at each wave.

RESULTS

Personality was generally stable from trait-specific and configural perspectives, and all traits were correlated with adversity. All traits, particularly Extraversion and Conscientiousness, predicted adversity. Adversity predicted increases in Emotionality and decreases in Agreeableness.

CONCLUSIONS

Although personality growth is not the typical response to adversity within a 3-year period, findings underscore the real-world impact of personality, and they provide some support for developmental theories emphasizing the effects of life events.

Examining the Links Between Received Network Support and Marital Quality Among Mothers of Children with ASD: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis

Employing a cohort sequential design and multilevel modeling, the direct and indirect effects (via depressed mood, emotional wellbeing, and perceived support) of received network support on marital quality were assessed over a 7-year period (child age 7-14) on 96 married or cohabiting mothers of children with ASD. Findings indicated several significant direct and indirect effects affecting change within mothers over time, with effects varying by whether the support source was a spouse or partner, family members, or friends. In addition, one moderated mediation effect was noted, with the indirect effect of received spousal support on marital quality via perceived spousal support retaining significance only at low and moderate levels of child problem behavior severity. Study strengths, limitations, and clinical implications are discussed.

A Reciprocal and Longitudinal Investigation of Peer and School Stressors and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican-Origin Adolescent Females

In adolescence, Mexican-origin females are at higher risk for depressive symptoms, peer and school stressors are associated with depressive symptoms, and parental support continues to show a protective nature. However, it is unclear how peer and school stressors are associated with depressive symptoms across time, whether parental support moderates the link between stressors and depressive symptoms, and whether differences in patterns of associations differ for early-middle and middle-late Mexican-origin adolescents. This study contributes to existing knowledge by examining the longitudinal and reciprocal associations among peer and school stressors, depressive symptoms, and parental support as a moderator across four years (three time points) with a cohort of Mexican-origin early adolescent (n = 170, M_age = 12.27 at baseline) and middle adolescent (n = 168, M_age = 15.21 at baseline) females. The cross-lagged model showed that for the early adolescent cohort prior peer stressors were associated with later depressive symptoms in mid-adolescence whereas for the middle-adolescent cohort earlier depressive symptoms were associated with subsequent peer stressors in late adolescence. Parental support moderated the link between peer stressors and depressive symptoms for mid-adolescents and the link between depressive symptoms and school stressors for late adolescents. Findings suggest that associations among peer and school stressors, depressive symptoms, and parental support may be more prevalent during middle-late adolescence.

Bidirectional Associations Between Stress and Reward Processing in Children and Adolescents: A Longitudinal Neuroimaging Study

BACKGROUND

Aberrations in both neural reward processing and stress reactivity are associated with increased risk for mental illness; yet, how these two factors relate to each other remains unclear. Several studies suggest that stress exposure impacts reward function, thus increasing risk for psychopathology. However, the alternative hypothesis, in which reward dysfunction impacts stress reactivity, has been rarely examined. The current study aimed to test both hypotheses using a longitudinal design.

METHODS

Participants were 38 children (23 girls; 61%) from a prospective cohort study. A standard stress-exposure measure was collected at 7 years of age. Children performed a well-validated imaging reward paradigm at age 10, and a standardized acute psychological stress laboratory protocol was administered both at age 10 and at age 13. Structural equation modeling was used to examine bidirectional associations between stress and neural response to reward anticipation.

RESULTS

Higher exposure to stressful life events at age 7 predicted lower neural response to reward anticipation in regions of the basal ganglia at age 10, which included ventral caudate, nucleus accumbens, putamen, and globus pallidus. Lower response to reward anticipation in medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex predicted higher stress reactivity at age 13.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide support for bidirectional associations between stress and reward processing, in that stress may impact reward anticipation, but also in that reduced reward anticipation may increase susceptibility to stress.

Chronic Stress in Vocational and Intimate Partner Domains as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

BACKGROUND

After cancer diagnosis, depressive symptoms are elevated on average and decline over time, but substantial variability is apparent. Few studies have examined to what extent chronic stress in distinct life domains affects depressive symptoms.

PURPOSE

Chronic stress in vocational and intimate partner life domains, and their interaction, were tested as predictors of depressive symptoms after breast cancer diagnosis.

METHODS

Women (N = 460) completed validated interviews regarding chronic stress in specific life domains shortly after diagnosis and a measure of depressive symptoms every 6 weeks for 6 months.

RESULTS

In latent growth curve modeling analyses, greater chronic stress in work (b = 2.90; p < .001) and intimate partner domains (b = 1.38, p = .02) was associated with higher depressive symptoms at study entry (intercept), and greater work stress predicted faster recovery from depressive symptoms over time (b = -0.10; p = .01). The two domains of chronic stress also interacted significantly on depressive symptoms at study entry (b = -1.54; p < .02) and over time (b = 0.14; p < .001). Greater work stress was associated with higher depressive symptoms at study entry regardless of intimate partner stress, but greater intimate partner stress was associated with higher depressive symptoms when work stress was low. The decline over 6 months in initially elevated depressive symptoms predicted by high work stress was significantly steeper when intimate partner stress was low.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeting interventions to recently diagnosed breast cancer patients living with chronically stressful vocational and intimate partner life circumstances could be worthwhile.

Academic disparities and health: How gender-based disparities in schools relate to boys' and girls' health

RATIONALE

Recent research reveals that, although girls encounter some barriers in school (e.g., in science and math), on balance, boys perform worse academically. Moreover, other research has identified a correlation between exposure to a context characterized by large disparities in performance or resources and a range of negative outcomes, including negative health and well-being, among members of lower status groups.

OBJECTIVE

Building on these literatures, the present research tests the relationship between gender disparities in academic performance within a school and students' health outcomes. Specifically, we investigated whether boys had worse health when they attended schools where there was a greater disparity between boys' and girls' academic performance.

METHOD

We tested this hypothesis in two different samples with different health outcomes. In a sample of healthy eighth graders (Study 1; 159 girls and 81 boys), we assessed two indices of metabolic syndrome, and in a sample of children with asthma (Study 2; 122 girls and 153 boys), we assessed immune function (Th1 and Th2 cytokine production) and self-reported symptoms. Participants in both samples also reported the name of the school that they attended so that we could access publicly available information about the percentage of girls and the percentage of boys in each school who met expectations for their grade level on standardized tests.

RESULTS

In both samples, the greater the gap in a school between the percentage of girls and the percentage of boys who met expectations for their grade level on standardized tests, the worse boys' health. This pattern did not emerge among girls.

CONCLUSION

Results thus highlight the negative health correlates of academic disparities among members of lower-performing groups.

Genetic and environmental determinants of stressful life events and their overlap with depression and neuroticism

Background: Stressful life events (SLEs) and neuroticism are risk factors for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, SLEs and neuroticism are heritable and genetic risk for SLEs is associated with risk for MDD. We sought to investigate the genetic and environmental contributions to SLEs in a family-based sample, and quantify genetic overlap with MDD and neuroticism. Methods: A subset of Generation Scotland: the Scottish Family Health Study (GS), consisting of 9618 individuals with information on MDD, past 6 month SLEs, neuroticism and genome-wide genotype data was used in the present study. We estimated the heritability of SLEs using GCTA software. The environmental contribution to SLEs was assessed by modelling familial, couple and sibling components. Using polygenic risk scores (PRS) and LD score regression (LDSC) we analysed the genetic overlap between MDD, neuroticism and SLEs. Results: Past 6-month life events were positively associated with lifetime MDD status (β=0.21, r ²=1.1%, p=2.5 x 10 ^-25) and neuroticism (β =0.13, r ²=1.9%, p=1.04 x 10 ^-37) at the phenotypic level.  Common SNPs explained 8% of the phenotypic variance in personal life events (those directly affecting the individual) (S.E.=0.03, p= 9 x 10 ^-4). A significant effect of couple environment was detected accounting for 13% (S.E.=0.03, p=0.016) of the phenotypic variation in SLEs. PRS analyses found that reporting more SLEs was associated with a higher polygenic risk for MDD (β =0.05, r ²=0.3%, p=3 x 10 ^-5), but not a higher polygenic risk for neuroticism. LDSC showed a significant genetic correlation between SLEs and both MDD (r _G=0.33, S.E.=0.08 ) and neuroticism (r _G=0.15, S.E.=0.07). Conclusions: These findings suggest that SLEs should not be regarded solely as environmental risk factors for MDD as they are partially heritable and this heritability is shared with risk for MDD and neuroticism. Further work is needed to determine the causal direction and source of these associations.

Genetic and environmental determinants of stressful life events and their overlap with depression and neuroticism

Background: Stressful life events (SLEs) and neuroticism are risk factors for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, SLEs and neuroticism are heritable and genetic risk for SLEs is associated with risk for MDD. We sought to investigate the genetic and environmental contributions to SLEs in a family-based sample, and quantify genetic overlap with MDD and neuroticism.

Methods: A subset of Generation Scotland: the Scottish Family Health Study (GS), consisting of 9618 individuals with information on MDD, past 6 month SLEs, neuroticism and genome-wide genotype data was used in the present study. We estimated the heritability of SLEs using GCTA software. The environmental contribution to SLEs was assessed by modelling familial, couple and sibling components. Using polygenic risk scores (PRS) and LD score regression (LDSC) we analysed the genetic overlap between MDD, neuroticism and SLEs.

Results: Past 6-month life events were positively associated with lifetime MDD status (β=0.21, r ²=1.1%, p=2.5 x 10 ^-25) and neuroticism (β =0.13, r ²=1.9%, p=1.04 x 10 ^-37) at the phenotypic level.  Common SNPs explained 8% of the phenotypic variance in personal life events (those directly affecting the individual) (S.E.=0.03, p= 9 x 10 ^-4). A significant effect of couple environment was detected accounting for 13% (S.E.=0.03, p=0.016) of the phenotypic variation in SLEs. PRS analyses found that reporting more SLEs was associated with a higher polygenic risk for MDD (β =0.05, r ²=0.3%, p=3 x 10 ^-5), but not a higher polygenic risk for neuroticism. LDSC showed a significant genetic correlation between SLEs and both MDD (r _G=0.33, S.E.=0.08 ) and neuroticism (r _G=0.15, S.E.=0.07).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that SLEs should not be regarded solely as environmental risk factors for MDD as they are partially heritable and this heritability is shared with risk for MDD and neuroticism. Further work is needed to determine the causal direction and source of these associations.

Marriage, divorce, and the immune system

This article reviews evidence from several lines of work to describe how marriage and divorce can provoke health-relevant immune alterations, including ways that marital closeness can be perilous for health and divorce can be beneficial. The multiple stresses of a troubled relationship are depressogenic, and the development of a mood disorder sets the stage for psychological and biological vulnerability. Depression provides a central pathway to immune dysregulation, inflammation, and poor health; gender-related differences in depression and inflammation can heighten risk for women compared to men. Sleep and obesity can simultaneously feed off depression as they promote it. In addition, spousal similarities in health behaviors, gene expression, immune profiles and the gut microbiota offer new ways to consider the health advantages and risks of marriage and divorce, providing new perspectives on couples' interdependence, as well as new directions for research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Appraisals of dependent stressor controllability and severity are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in youth

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Stress is well established as a strong risk factor for internalizing psychopathology. Learned helplessness research demonstrates that perceived controllability of stressors affects internalizing symptoms. Furthermore, subjective perceived stress is associated with psychopathology. However, most recent research has focused on measuring the frequency and expert-rated severity of stressful life events despite evidence for the importance of stress perceptions. The present study brings together past and current literatures to investigate the importance of perceived severity and controllability of recent life events in the association between stressors and internalizing symptoms.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We used a revised version of the Adolescent Life Events Questionnaire (ALEQ) that asked participants (ages 13-22, N = 328) to rate the frequency of 65 stressful events typical to youth, as well as the perceived stressfulness and control they felt over each event. Events were categorized prior to analysis as dependent (self-generated), independent (fateful) or neither.

RESULTS

Controllability and severity appraisals were associated with depression and anxiety symptoms, controlling for stressor frequency (which also predicted symptoms), for dependent but not independent stressors.

CONCLUSIONS

These results highlight the importance of controllability and severity appraisals as potential risk factors for internalizing disorders, exposing a potential target for therapy.

Stress, Psychological Resources, and HPA and Inflammatory Reactivity During Late Adolescence

Psychosocial stress during childhood and adolescence is associated with alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and with heightened inflammation, both of which are implicated in poor health; however, factors that may protect against these effects relatively early in life are not well understood. Thus, we examined whether psychosocial resources protect against stress-related alterations in the HPA axis and heightened inflammation in a sample of 91 late adolescents. Participants completed measures of various stressors (major life events, daily interpersonal stress, early adversity), and psychosocial resources (mastery, optimism, self-esteem, and positive reappraisal). They also completed the Trier Social Stress Test and provided saliva and blood samples for the assessment of cortisol and interleukin-6 reactivity. Each of the stressors was associated with lower cortisol reactivity. Additionally, associations with major life events and daily stress were moderated by psychological resources, such that more life events and daily stress were associated with decreased HPA reactivity among adolescents with lower levels of psychological resources, but not among those with higher levels of psychological resources. This pattern of findings was observed only for cortisol reactivity and not for interleukin-6 reactivity. Findings suggest that psychological resources may counteract the effects of certain adversity-related decreases in cortisol reactivity.

Personality, Social Capital, and Depressive Symptomatology Among African Americans

The present study examined the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms and the moderating role of the Big Five personality constructs in a national sample of African American adults. Data were collected from a national probability sample of 803 African American men and women using a telephone survey including measures of the Big Five personality traits, social capital, and depressive symptomatology. Most interestingly, there was evidence for Personality X Social Capital interactions on depressive symptoms. Higher social capital was related to lower depressive symptomology among persons with low conscientiousness, low extraversion, or high neuroticism. However, social capital was significantly but not as strongly related to depressive symptoms among those with high conscientiousness, high extraversion, or low neuroticism. This study reinforces the importance of personality traits when considering potential protective health effects of social capital in understanding depressive symptoms. This information may be useful to practitioners and community members in prevention and treatment.

Social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation: the moderating role of interpersonal distress

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Existing models of social anxiety scarcely account for interpersonal stress generation. These models also seldom include interpersonal factors that compound the effects of social anxiety. Given recent findings that two forms of interpersonal distress, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, intensify social anxiety and cause interpersonal stress generation, these two constructs may be especially relevant to examining social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation together.

DESIGN

The current study extended prior research by examining the role of social anxiety in the occurrence of negative and positive interpersonal events and evaluated whether interpersonal distress moderated these associations.

METHODS

Undergraduate students (N = 243; M = 20.46 years; 83% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness, as well as a self-report measure and clinician-rated interview assessing negative and positive interpersonal events that occurred over the past six weeks.

RESULTS

Higher levels of social anxiety were associated only with a higher occurrence of negative interpersonal dependent events, after controlling for depressive symptoms. This relationship was stronger among individuals who also reported higher levels of perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness.

CONCLUSIONS

It may be important to more strongly consider interpersonal stress generation in models of social anxiety.

Taking on the stress-depression link: Meaning as a resource in adolescence

We investigated how meaning in life affects the link between stress and depression symptoms in adolescents. Adolescents (N = 177; 58.4% female, mean age = 14.75 years) reported on their meaning in life, exposure to stressors, and depression symptomatology. Higher meaning in life predicted lower depression symptoms. Importantly, meaning in life moderated the relationship between stress exposure and depressive symptoms: stress exposure was associated with higher depression when meaning in life was low, when meaning in life was high, there was no association between stressors and depression. These findings indicate the importance of having a sense of meaning in life adolescence. A positive relationship was found between stress exposure and depression symptomatology levels at a time-point seven months earlier. This lends a longitudinal perspective; meaning in life moderated a relationship that had been present for seven months. Therapeutic implications for protecting at-risk youth are discussed.

Neural Response to Pleasant Pictures Moderates Prospective Relationship Between Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls

Adolescent girls are at increased risk for depression, which is thought to result from the interaction of biological vulnerabilities and life stressors common to adolescent girls. A blunted late positive potential (LPP) to emotional stimuli (i.e., pleasant and unpleasant) has been associated with depressive symptoms and risk. The current study of adolescent girls examines the moderating effects of the LPP, a candidate biomarker of depression, of the link between life stress and increases in depressive symptoms over 1 year. We measured LPP to pleasant and unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture Set among 143 predominantly Caucasian adolescent girls ages 8 to 14, who also reported on the frequency of common life stressors. Self-reported depressive symptoms were assessed both at baseline and 1 year after the initial lab visit. The LPP to pleasant pictures moderated the relationship between baseline life stressors and the change in depressive symptoms. Specifically, life stress was associated with increases in depressive symptoms when the LPP to pleasant pictures was blunted, whereas life stress was associated with decreases in depressive symptoms when the LPP to pleasant pictures was potentiated. These effects showed some specificity to family and school-related stressors and to anhedonic and efficacy-related depressive symptoms. A similar pattern, though not statistically significant, was found for the LPP to unpleasant pictures. Together, these findings suggest that the LPP to pleasant pictures may represent a useful biomarker in identifying individuals at greatest risk of experiencing depressive symptoms following stress.

Chronic and episodic stress predict physical symptom bother following breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer patients often experience adverse physical side effects of medical treatments. According to the biobehavioral model of cancer stress and disease, life stress during diagnosis and treatment may negatively influence the trajectory of women's physical health-related adjustment to breast cancer. This longitudinal study examined chronic and episodic stress as predictors of bothersome physical symptoms during the year after breast cancer diagnosis. Women diagnosed with breast cancer in the previous 4 months (N = 460) completed a life stress interview for contextual assessment of chronic and episodic stress severity at study entry and 9 months later. Physical symptom bother (e.g., pain, fatigue) was measured at study entry, every 6 weeks through 6 months, and at nine and 12 months. In multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analyses, both chronic stress and episodic stress occurring shortly after diagnosis predicted greater physical symptom bother over the study period. Episodic stress reported to have occurred prior to diagnosis did not predict symptom bother in MSEM analyses, and the interaction between chronic and episodic stress on symptom bother was not significant. Results suggest that ongoing chronic stress and episodic stress occurring shortly after breast cancer diagnosis are important predictors of bothersome symptoms during and after cancer treatment. Screening for chronic stress and recent stressful life events in the months following diagnosis may help to identify breast cancer patients at risk for persistent and bothersome physical symptoms. Interventions to prevent or ameliorate treatment-related physical symptoms may confer added benefit by addressing ongoing non-cancer-related stress in women's lives.

HPA axis multilocus genetic profile score moderates the impact of interpersonal stress on prospective increases in depressive symptoms for offspring of depressed mothers

Although offspring of depressed mothers are at an increased risk for depression themselves, not all of these children develop depression, highlighting the need to identify specific environmental and genetic moderators of risk. The goal of this study was to examine the aggregate influence of genetic polymorphisms associated with the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as a potential moderator of the relation between environmental stress and prospective changes in depressive symptoms for offspring of depressed mothers. Participants were 238 mother-offspring dyads recruited from the community based on the mother's lifetime history of major depression during the youth's lifetime (present vs. absent). Mothers and youth completed assessments every 6 months for 2 years (5 total). Results indicated that offspring of depressed mothers showing the greatest increases in depressive symptoms during the follow up were those who had higher HPA multilocus genetic profile scores and who experienced the highest levels of interpersonal stress. These relations were significant for interpersonal stress and were not observed for noninterpersonal stress. These findings suggest that HPA multilocus genetic profile scores may be important genetic markers of stress reactivity and depression risk for offspring of depressed mothers. They also highlight interpersonal stress as a potentially modifiable risk factor for these high-risk youth. (PsycINFO Database Record

Rejection sensitivity as a vulnerability marker for depressive symptom deterioration in men

Consistent across time and cultures, men and male adolescents older than 14 years of age appear underrepresented in mood disorders, and are far less likely than women to seek psychological help. The much higher rate of suicide amongst males suggests that depression in men might be underreported. One of the core human motives is to seek acceptance by others and avoid rejection. Rejection Sensitivity (RS) has been conceptualized as the cognitive-affective processing disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely respond to cues of rejection in the behavior of others. RS has been previously linked with the onset and course of depression, but-as yet-has not been investigated longitudinally in a clinical population. We investigated the predictive role of RS to symptom deterioration 6 months after end-of- treatment in 72 male inpatients with depressive spectrum disorder. The BDI was administered at intake, end-of-treatment and 6 month follow-up. RS scores were obtained at intake. Rejection Sensitivity had additional predictive power on BDI scores at 6 months follow-up controlling for BDI scores at end-of-treatment (ΔR2 = .095). The results are discussed in terms of the importance of targeting RS during treatment, and highlight the fact that therapeutic follow-up care is paramount. Future research should investigate possible mediators of the RS-relapse-to-depression association, such as self-blame, rumination, neuroticism, pessimism, emotion dysregulation, and low self-esteem.

Physiological Markers of Interpersonal Stress Generation in Depression

Abnormalities in parasympathetic nervous system activity have been linked to depression, but less is known about processes underlying this relationship. The present study evaluated resting and stress-reactive respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) to a laboratory stressor as predictors of daily interpersonal stress generation and depressive symptoms, whether stress generation mediated the relationship between RSA and depressive symptoms, and potential sex differences. A sample of formerly depressed 102 emerging adults (18-22 years; 78% female) completed a laboratory stressor and daily assessments of stressors and depressive symptoms over two weeks. Multilevel modeling revealed that: 1) lower resting RSA predicted daily depressive symptoms; 2) less RSA reactivity predicted interpersonal stress generation, 3) interpersonal dependent stressors mediated the relationship between RSA reactivity and daily depressive symptoms, and 4) sex differences occurred in the resting RSA-depression relationship. These findings highlight the importance of resting RSA and RSA reactivity in the examination of depression and interpersonal processes.

Associations between spontaneous parental perspective-taking and stimulated cytokine responses in children with asthma

OBJECTIVES

Cognitive empathy in parents-reflecting the extent to which one considers the perspectives and emotions of others-is hypothesized to contribute to family social environments in ways that affect youths' physical health. Using a novel assessment technique for cognitive empathy, the current study examined associations between spontaneous parental perspective-taking and key inflammatory processes implicated in pediatric asthma.

METHOD

One hundred thirty children (ages 9-17) with physician-diagnosed asthma, along with 1 parent, participated in the current study. Parents completed an interview from which statements of perspective-taking were coded and youths provided blood samples.

RESULTS

Youths whose parents demonstrated greater spontaneous perspective-taking during the interview had cells that mounted smaller inflammatory responses to stimulation by nonspecific, asthma-specific, and viral analogue ligands, as well as cells that showed greater sensitivity to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids. These results were not accounted for by parental warmth or parent or youth depressive symptoms, nor by covariates of race, age, gender, parental education level, use of asthma medications over the past week, or asthma severity.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that parental perspective-taking may have implications for biological processes relevant to childhood asthma. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy for major depressive disorder in the community mental health setting

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the relation of change in theory-relevant cognitive variables to depressive symptom change over the course of cognitive therapy, as well as the specificity of change mechanisms to cognitive therapy as compared with dynamic therapy.

METHOD

There were 237 adult outpatients who were randomized to either cognitive (n = 119) or dynamic (n = 118) therapy for major depressive disorder in a community mental health setting. Assessments of compensatory skills (Ways of Responding Community Version and Self-Report Version), dysfunctional attitudes (Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale), and depressogenic schemas (Psychological Distance Scaling Task) were obtained at baseline and months 1, 2, and 5 following baseline. Primary outcome was measured using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

RESULTS

Across both therapy conditions, change in all 3 cognitive domains was associated with concurrent change in depressive symptoms. After controlling for other cognitive variables, increased interconnectedness of the positive achievement-related schema was significantly associated with concurrent symptom change in cognitive (rp = .26, p < .001) but not dynamic therapy (rp = .08, p = .29). Increases in positive compensatory skills were associated with subsequent change in depressive symptoms in cognitive therapy (rp = -.36, p = .003), but not in dynamic therapy (rp = .11, p = .386).

CONCLUSIONS

Results provide support for the compensatory skills model of cognitive therapy (CT) within a community mental health setting. Additional research is necessary to understand other possible mechanisms of change in CT in the community setting. (PsycINFO Database Record

Moderators of the relationship between frequent family demands and inflammation among adolescents

OBJECTIVE

Frequent demands from others in relationships are associated with worse physiological and health outcomes. The present research investigated 2 potential moderators of the relationship between frequency of demands from one's family and inflammatory profiles among adolescents: (a) closeness of adolescents' relationships with their families, and (b) the frequency with which adolescents provided help to their families.

METHOD

Two hundred thirty-four adolescents, ages 13-16 (Mage = 14.53; 47.83% male), completed a daily dairy in which they reported on the frequency of demands made by family members. They were also interviewed about the closeness of their family relationships and reported in the daily diary on how frequently they provided help to their families. Adolescents also underwent a blood draw to assess low-grade inflammation and proinflammatory cytokine production in response to bacterial stimulation.

RESULTS

More frequent demands from family predicted higher levels of low-grade inflammation and cytokine production in response to bacterial stimulation in adolescents. Family closeness moderated the relationship between frequent demands and stimulated cytokine production such that more frequent demands predicted higher cytokine production among adolescents who were closer to their families. Furthermore, frequency of providing help moderated the relationship between frequent demands and both low-grade inflammation and stimulated cytokine production, such that more frequent demands predicted worse inflammatory profiles among adolescents who provided more help to their families.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings build on previous work on family demands and health to show under what circumstances family demands might have a physiological cost. (PsycINFO Database Record

Depression symptoms moderate the association between emotion and communal behavior

Depression is associated with emotion regulation deficits which manifest as elevated negative affect and greater continuation of negative affect over time. The present study examined a possible emotion regulatory deficit, whether depression symptoms attenuate the association between communal (i.e., agreeable, quarrelsome) behavior and affect. A community sample reported on depression and anxiety symptoms before recording their affect and behavior following naturally occurring interpersonal interactions over 21 days. Participants' behaviors were measured using items selected to represent the Interpersonal Circumplex Model of behavior. Results indicated an association between affect and communal behavior, which was stronger for negative than positive affect. Depression symptoms moderated this association; elevated depression symptoms were associated with decreased association of affect and interpersonal behavior. Comorbid anxiety symptoms did not moderate this association. Results suggest that elevated depression symptoms are associated with a diminished ability to adapt communal behavior to emotion cues. Given prior evidence of elevated overall quarrelsome behavior among individuals with elevated depression symptoms, this may demonstrate an interpersonal mechanism by which emotion regulation deficits impact the generation of interpersonal problems. (PsycINFO Database Record

Parents' childhood socioeconomic circumstances are associated with their children's asthma outcomes

BACKGROUND

Previous literature documents associations between low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor health outcomes, including asthma. However, this literature has largely focused on the effects of current family circumstances.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to test an intergenerational hypothesis, that the childhood SES that parents experience will be associated with asthma outcomes in their children, independent of effects of current family SES. Second, we aimed to test whether this association is in part due to difficulties in current parent-child relationships.

METHODS

This was an observational study, whereby 150 parents were interviewed about their childhood SES and their children (physician-diagnosed asthma, ages 9-17 years) were interviewed about current family stress. Asthma control was assessed by parent report and child report (primary outcome), and blood was collected from children to measure cytokine production relevant to asthma (secondary outcomes).

RESULTS

To the degree that parents had lower childhood SES, their offspring showed worse asthma outcomes across multiple indicators. This included lower asthma control scores (parent and child report, Ps < .05), and greater stimulated production of T_H2 and T_H1 cytokines by PBMCs (Ps < .05). These associations were independent of current family SES. Mediation analyses were consistent with a scenario wherein parents with low childhood SES had current family relationships that were more stressful, and these difficulties, in turn, related to worse asthma control and greater cytokine production in children.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest the potential "long reach" of low SES across generations, and the importance of expanding theories of how the social environment can affect childhood asthma to include characteristics of earlier generations.

Predictors of Stress Generation in Adolescents in Mainland China

The current longitudinal study examined whether the personality vulnerabilities of self-criticism and dependency prospectively predicted stress generation in Chinese adolescents. Participants included 1,116 adolescents (588 girls and 528 boys), aged 15 to 18 years from rural, urban and ultra-urban mainland China. Participants completed self-report measures of personality, depressive and anxious symptoms and participated in a clinical interview assessing lifetime history of depression. The occurrence of negative life events was measured using a contextual-threat interview every 6-months for a total period of 18-months. Logistic regression analyses showed that after controlling for past depressive episodes and current depressive and anxious symptoms, self-criticism was prospectively associated with the occurrence of interpersonal stress generation, but not noninterpersonal stress generation. Dependency also predicted interpersonal stress generation, although only in girls and not boys. In line with previous Western findings, girls reported more interpersonal stress generation. Analyses across 3 levels of urbanization revealed several significant differences including higher reported interpersonal stress generation in urban girls than urban boys and overall higher levels of negative life events in ultra-urban youth. In sum, findings from the current study suggest that the stress generation process may be generalizable to Chinese youth.

Spiraling out of control: Stress generation and subsequent rumination mediate the link between poorer cognitive control and internalizing psychopathology

Poor cognitive control is associated with nearly every mental disorder and has been proposed as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, including depression and anxiety. What specific mechanisms might cause individuals with poor cognitive control to experience higher levels of psychopathology? The current research tests a new process model linking poor cognitive control to depression and anxiety symptoms via increased dependent stress (i.e., self-generated stressors) and subsequent rumination. This model was supported across two studies in youth during the key period for emergence of internalizing psychopathology. Study 1 provides longitudinal evidence for prospective prediction of change in symptoms. Study 2 confirms this model using well-established executive function tasks in a cross-sectional study. These finding have potential implications for understanding why cognitive control impairments may be broadly associated with psychopathology, and suggest that interventions to prevent stress generation might be effective in preventing negative consequences of poor cognitive control.

Personality and life events in a personality disorder sample

Individuals with a personality disorder (PD) tend to experience more negative life events (NLEs) than positive life events (PLEs). In community samples, the Five Factor Model of personality (FFM) predicts both positive and negative life events. The present research examined whether FFM normal personality traits were associated with positive and negative life events among individuals with 1 of 4 PDs: avoidant, borderline, schizotypal, and obsessive-compulsive, and tested whether associations between the FFM of personality and PLEs and NLEs were similar across the 4 PD groups and a control group. Among aggregated PDs, neuroticism was positively associated with NLEs, whereas extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness were positively associated with PLEs. Comparisons of each PD group to a control group of individuals with a major depressive disorder indicated that the FFM traits operated similarly across clinical samples with and without PD. Our findings indicate that normal personality traits can be used to help understand the lives of individuals with PD. (PsycINFO Database Record

Individual and Day-to-Day Differences in Active Coping Predict Diurnal Cortisol Patterns among Early Adolescent Girls

Prior work has identified alterations in activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as a potential mechanism underlying stress-induced emotional health problems, which disproportionately impact girls beginning in mid-adolescence. How adolescent girls differ from one another in dispositional coping tendencies and shift specific coping strategies in response to varying stressors have been theorized as important predictors of their adaptation, health, and well-being during this dynamic period of development. The goal of this study was to examine whether individual and day-to-day (within-person) differences in adolescent girls' coping responses are associated with daily patterns of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, indexed by cortisol. Participants were 122 early adolescent girls (M _age = 12.39) who provided three saliva samples per day for 3 days and completed daily coping reports, as well as a standard coping survey. Participants and primary caregivers also completed objective life stress interviews. On average, girls who were more likely to respond to interpersonal stress with voluntary engagement (active) coping exhibited generally adaptive daily physiological regulation-steeper diurnal cortisol slopes, lower total diurnal cortisol output, and lower cortisol awakening responses. Chronic interpersonal stress level significantly moderated these associations in different ways for two distinct components of the diurnal pattern-the slope and cortisol awakening responses. Regarding within-person differences, using active coping more than usual was associated with higher waking cortisol the following morning, which may help to prepare adolescent girls for perceived daily demands. These findings highlight the interactive influence of stress and coping in the prediction of daily hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and support the stress-buffering role of active coping for adolescent girls.

Postpartum Depressive Symptoms Following Consecutive Pregnancies: Stability, Change, and Mechanisms

Postpartum depression is a major mental health issue for women and society. We examined stability and change in symptoms of depression over two consecutive pregnancies and tested life stress as a potential mechanism. The Community Child Health Network followed an ethnically/racially diverse sample from one month after a birth for two years. A subset of 228 women had a second birth. Interview measures of depression symptoms (EPDS) and life stress (life events, perceived stress, chronic stress, interpersonal aggression) were obtained during home visits. Three-quarters of the sample showed intra-individual stability in depressive symptoms from one postpartum period to the next, and 24% of the sample had clinically significant symptoms after at least one pregnancy (9% first, 7.5% second, 3.5% both). Each of the four life stressors significantly mediated the association between depressive symptoms across two postpartum periods. Stress between pregnancies for women may be an important mechanism perpetuating postpartum depression.

MicroRNAs 29b and 181a down-regulate the expression of the norepinephrine transporter and glucocorticoid receptors in PC12 cells

MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that provide global regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Such regulation has been found to play a role in stress-induced epigenetic responses in the brain. The norepinephrine transporter (NET) and glucocorticoid receptors are closely related to the homeostatic integration and regulation after stress. Our previous studies demonstrated that NET mRNA and protein levels in rats are regulated by chronic stress and by administration of corticosterone, which is mediated through glucocorticoid receptors. Whether miRNAs are intermediaries in the regulation of these proteins remains to be elucidated. This study was undertaken to determine possible regulatory effects of miRNAs on the expression of NET and glucocorticoid receptors in the noradrenergic neuronal cell line. Using computational target prediction, we identified several candidate miRNAs potentially targeting NET and glucocorticoid receptors. Western blot results showed that over-expression of miR-181a and miR-29b significantly repressed protein levels of NET, which is accompanied by a reduced [³ H] norepinephrine uptake, and glucocorticoid receptors in PC12 cells. Luciferase reporter assays verified that both miR-181a and miR-29b bind the 3'UTR of mRNA of NET and glucocorticoid receptors. Furthermore, exposure of PC12 cells to corticosterone markedly reduced the endogenous levels of miR-29b, which was not reversed by the application of glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone. These observations indicate that miR-181a and miR-29b can function as the negative regulators of NET and glucocorticoid receptor translation in vitro. This regulatory effect may be related to stress-induced up-regulation of the noradrenergic phenotype, a phenomenon observed in stress models and depressive patients. This study demonstrated that miR-29b and miR-181a, two short non-coding RNAs that provide global regulation of gene expression, markedly repressed protein levels of norepinephrine (NE) transporter and glucocorticoid receptor (GR), as well as NE uptake by binding the 3'UTR of their mRNAs in PC12 cells. Also, exposure of cells to corticosterone significantly reduced miR-29b levels through a GR-independent way.

Co-Rumination Exacerbates Stress Generation among Adolescents with Depressive Symptoms

Through stress generation, individuals' own thoughts and behaviors can actually lead to increases in their experience of stress. Unfortunately, stress generation is especially common among individuals who are already suffering from elevated depressive symptoms. However, despite the acknowledgement that some individuals with depressive symptoms generate greater stress than others, few studies have identified specific factors that could exacerbate stress generation among individuals with depressive symptoms. The present study examines co-rumination as a factor that might exacerbate stress generation among adolescents with depressive symptoms using a short-term longitudinal design. Considering these processes among adolescents was critical given that many youth experience increases in depressive symptoms at this developmental stage and that co-rumination also becomes more common at adolescence. Participants were 628 adolescents (326 girls; 302 boys) who reported on their depressive symptoms, experiences of stress, and co-rumination with a best friend. Interpersonal stressors (peer and family stress) and non-interpersonal stressors (school and sports stress) were assessed. Consistent with past research, adolescents with depressive symptoms experienced greater interpersonal and non-interpersonal stress over time. Importantly, co-rumination interacted with both depressive symptoms and gender in predicting increases in peer stress. Depressive symptoms predicted the generation of peer stress only for girls who reported high levels of co-rumination with friends. Implications for protecting youth with depressive symptoms against stress generation are discussed.

Personality Predicts Health Declines Through Stressful Life Events During Late Mid-Life

Personality predicts the occurrence of dependent stressful life events (SLE; i.e., events reliant, at least in part, on an individual's behavior). This process, termed stress generation, contributes to psychiatric outcomes, but its role in physical health is unknown. Data were included from 998 participants (aged 55-64) in the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) study. Assessments occurred every 6 months for 18 months. Neuroticism, impulsivity, and agreeableness were measured with the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Dependent (e.g., divorce) and independent (e.g., family death) SLE occurring within 6 months following baseline were assessed with the List of Threatening Experiences and confirmed by interviews. Health problems occurring within a year after SLE were the outcome. Analyses examined whether neuroticism, impulsivity, and agreeableness indirectly predict the onset of new health problems through exposure to dependent SLE. Each personality trait was associated with dependent, but not independent, SLE. Only dependent SLE predicted new health problems. Each personality trait indirectly predicted the onset of new health problems through dependent SLE. Findings suggest that personality-driven stress generation influences physical health during late mid-life. Addressing personality in interventions may reduce the occurrence of SLE, in turn decreasing health risks.

Combining Stress Exposure and Stress Generation: Does Neuroticism Alter the Dynamic Interplay of Stress, Depression, and Anxiety Following Job Loss?

OBJECTIVE

Emerging models of stress point to a dynamic formulation where stressors and internalizing symptoms reciprocally influence each other. This study tested whether this dynamic interplay is the result of a general internalizing process underlying both depression and anxiety, and whether it varies with neuroticism.

METHOD

A total of 426 adults (51% female; 47% White, 42% African American) were assessed five times over 6 months following loss of employment, using repeated measurements of stressors, depression, anxiety, and neuroticism.

RESULTS

Latent growth across 6 months and multilevel cross-lagged regressions across 6 weeks supported the hypothesis that stressors and internalizing symptoms have reciprocal effects after job loss. Findings for unique variation in depression paralleled those for general internalizing, whereas few findings emerged for general or social anxiety after controlling for internalizing. Neuroticism strengthened the association of change in stressors with change in symptoms across 6 months. Those with high neuroticism showed less reduction in internalizing following reemployment and were less likely to be reemployed when starting with higher internalizing.

CONCLUSIONS

The moderated reciprocal effects model helps account for onset, maintenance, and resolution of symptoms following job loss. We speculate that these findings may be due in part to differential emotion regulation and reductions in motivation.

Stressful life events moderate the relationship between genes and biased attention to emotional faces in youth

Attention bias to emotion may be an intermediate trait for stress-reactive psychopathology associated with biologically plausible candidate genes, yet the precise direction of effects within the youth literature remains unclear. The present study investigated whether stressful life events (SLEs) moderate the link between genetic risk (5-HTTLPR and COMT) and attention bias to emotion among youth (n= 467). Analyses revealed a differential effect of gene. Among youth who had experienced more recent SLEs, those homozygous for the low expressing allele of 5-HTTLPR (S/S) demonstrated preferential attention toward negative emotional expressions, whereas youth homozygous for the high expressing COMT genotype (Val/Val) showed attentional avoidance of positive facial expressions. No interaction between 5-HTTLPR and COMT was found. These findings highlight the importance of investigating stress as a moderator within the intermediate trait literature and suggest that biologically plausible candidate genes may have a differential effect in the pathway to psychological disorders.

Longitudinal Links Between Perfectionism and Depression in Children

The temporal relation between two types of perfectionism - self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) - and depressive symptoms was examined in a sample of 653 children (286 girls, 367 boys) across Grades 6 (depressive symptoms only), 7, and 8. A vulnerability model, in which perfectionism affects depressive symptoms, was compared to a scar model, in which depressive symptoms affects perfectionism, and to a reciprocal-causality model, in which both constructs concurrently affect each other across time. Cross-lagged paths analyses using structural equation modeling supported a scar model where increases in depressive symptoms lead to increases in SPP, but not SOP. The findings applied to both boys and girls. Results suggest that in childhood, depressive symptoms increase the perception that others are expecting excessively high standards of oneself and the need to satisfy this perception.