Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:01:56.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Childhood adversity and youth depression: Influence of gender and pubertal status

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2007

KAREN D. RUDOLPH
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
MEGAN FLYNN
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign

Abstract

This research examined three possible models to explain how childhood social adversity and recent stress interact to predict depression in youth: stress sensitization, stress amplification, and stress inoculation. Drawing from a stress-sensitization theory of depression, we hypothesized that exposure to childhood adversity, in the form of disruptions in critical interpersonal relationships, would lower youths' threshold for depressive reactions to recent interpersonal stress. We expected that this pattern of stress sensitization would be most salient for girls negotiating the pubertal transition. These hypotheses were examined in two studies: a longitudinal, questionnaire-based investigation of 399 youth (M = 11.66 years) and a concurrent, interview-based investigation of 147 youth (M = 12.39 years). Findings supported the role of stress-sensitization processes in pubertal girls and prepubertal boys, and stress-amplification processes in prepubertal girls. Childhood social adversity specifically predicted sensitization to recent interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal, stress. These findings build on prior theory and research by suggesting that early adversity exerts context-specific effects that vary across gender and development. Future research will need to identify the specific mechanisms underlying this stress-sensitization process.We express our appreciation to the students, teachers, and principals of the participating schools for their facilitation of this study. We also thank Constance Hammen, Kate Harkness, and Eva Pomerantz for their helpful comments; Melissa Caldwell, Alyssa Clark, Colleen Conley, Alison Dupre, Heidi Gazelle, and Kathryn Kurlakowsky for their assistance in data collection and management; and Shannon Daley for consultation on statistical analyses. This research was supported by a University of Illinois Research Board Beckman Award, a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH59711 awarded to Karen D. Rudolph.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abela, J. (2001). The hopelessness theory of depression: A test of the diathesis-stress and causal mediation components in third and seventh grade children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 241254.Google Scholar
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358372.Google Scholar
Alloy, L. B., Abramson, L. Y., Tashman, N. A., Berrebbi, D. S., Hogan, M. E., Whitehouse, W. G., et al. (2001). Developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression: Parenting, cognitive, and inferential feedback styles of the parents of individuals at high and low cognitive risk for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 397423.Google Scholar
Alloy, L. B., Kelly, K. A., Mineka, S., & Clements, C. M. (1990). Comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders: A helplessness-hopelessness perspective. In J. D. Maser & C. R. Cloninger (Eds.), Comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders (pp. 499543). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., Text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Worthman, C. M. (1998). Puberty and depression: The roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing. Psychological Medicine, 28, 5161.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
Boyce, W. T., & Ellis, B. J. (2005). Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary–developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 271301.Google Scholar
Boyce, W. T., Frank, E., Jensen, P. S., Kessler, R. C., Nelson, C. A., Steinberg, L., & the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Psychopathology and Development. (1998). Social context in developmental psychopathology: Recommendations for future research from the MacArthur Network on Psychopathology and Development. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 143164.Google Scholar
Brooks-Gunn, J., Warren, M. P., Rosso, J., & Gargiulo, J. (1987). Validity of self-report measures of girls' pubertal status. Child Development, 58, 829841.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (1978). Social origins of depression: A study of psychiatric disorder in women. New York: Free Press.
Caldwell, M. S., Rudolph, K. D., Troop-Gordon, W., & Kim, D. (2004). Reciprocal influences among relational self-views, social disengagement, and peer stress during early adolescence. Child Development, 75, 11401154.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., Sugden, K., Moffitt, T. E., Taylor, A., Craig, I. W., Harrington, H., et al. (2003). Influence of life stress on depression: Moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science, 301, 386389.Google Scholar
Chorpita, B. F., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). The development of anxiety: The role of control in the early environment. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 321.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Aber, J. L. (1986). Early precursors of later depression: An organizational perspective. Advances in Infancy Research, 4, 87137.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., & Toth, S. L. (1998). Maternal depressive disorder and contextual risk: Contributions to the development of attachment insecurity and behavior problems in toddlerhood. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 283300.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221241.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Walker, E. F. (2001). Stress and development: Biological and psychological consequences. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 413418.Google Scholar
Cole, D. A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Girgus, J., & Paul, G. (2006). Stress exposure and stress generation in child and adolescent depression: A latent trait-state-error approach to longitudinal analyses. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 4051.Google Scholar
Curtis, W. J., & Cicchetti, D. (2003). Moving research on resilience into the 21st century: Theoretical and methodological considerations in examining the biological contributors to resilience. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 773810.Google Scholar
Daley, S. E., Hammen, C., & Rao, U. (2000). Predictors of first onset and recurrence of major depression in young women during the five years following high school graduation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 525533.Google Scholar
Dawson, G., Ashman, S. B., Panagiotides, H., Hessl, D., Self, J., Yamada, E., et al. (2003). Preschool outcomes of children of depressed mothers: Role of maternal behavior, contextual risk, and children's brain activity. Child Development, 74, 11581175.Google Scholar
Eley, T. C., Sugden, K., Corsico, A., Gregory, A. M., Sham, P., McGuffin, P., et al. (2004). Gene–environment interaction analysis of serotonin system markers with adolescent depression. Molecular Psychiatry, 9, 908915.Google Scholar
Ellis, B. J., Essex, M. J., & Boyce, W. T. (2005). Biological sensitivity to context: II. Empirical explorations of an evolutionary-developmental theory. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 303328.Google Scholar
Essex, M. J., Klein, M. H., Cho, E., & Kalin, N. H. (2002). Maternal stress beginning in infancy may sensitize children to later stress exposure: Effects on cortisol and behavior. Biological Psychiatry, 52, 776784.Google Scholar
Frank, E., Anderson, B., Reynolds, C. F., Ritenour, A., & Kupfer, D. J. (1994). Life events and the research diagnostic criteria endogenous subtype. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 519524.Google Scholar
Garber, J., & Flynn, C. (2001). Predictors of depressive cognitions in young adolescents. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 353376.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. (1986). Developmental aspects of children's responses to the stress of separation and loss. In M. Rutter, C. E. Izard, & P. B. Reid (Eds.), Depression in young people: Developmental and clinical perspectives. New York: Guilford Press.
Ge, X., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., Elder, G. G., & Simons, R. L. (1994). Trajectories of stressful life events and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 467483.Google Scholar
Gibb, B. E., Alloy, L. B., Abramson, L. Y., Rose, D. T., Whitehouse, P. D., Hogan, M. E., et al. (2001). History of childhood maltreatment, negative cognitive styles, and episodes of depression in adulthood. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 425446.Google Scholar
Gold, P. W., Goodwin, F. K., & Chrousos, G. P. (1988). Clinical and biochemical manifestations of depression: Relation to the neurobiology of stress. New England Journal of Medicine, 319, 348353.Google Scholar
Goodman, S. H. (2002). Depression and early adverse experiences. In I. H. Gotlib & C. Hammen (Eds.), Handbook of depression (pp. 245267). New York: Guilford Press.
Goodyer, I. M., & Altham, P. M. E. (1991). Lifetime exit events and recent social and family adversities in anxious and depressed school-age children and adolescents: I. Journal of Affective Disorders, 21, 219228.Google Scholar
Gore, S., Aseltine, R. H., & Colton, M. E. (1993). Gender, social-relational involvement, and depression. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 3, 101125.Google Scholar
Grant, K. E., Compas, B. E., Stuhlmacher, A. F., Thurm, A. E., McMahon, S. D., & Halpert, J. A. (2003). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 447466.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., Morison, S. J., Chisolm, K., & Schuder, M. (2001). Salivary cortisol levels in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 611628.Google Scholar
Hammen, C., & Goodman-Brown, T. (1990). Self-schemas and vulnerability to specific life stress in children at risk for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 215227.Google Scholar
Hammen, C., Henry, R., & Daley, S. E. (2000). Depression and sensitization to stressors among young women as a function of childhood adversity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 782787.Google Scholar
Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2001). Development of gender differences in depression: An elaborated cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 773796.Google Scholar
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., & Siler, M. (2001). A prospective test of the hopelessness theory of depression in adolescence. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 607632.Google Scholar
Harkness, K. L., Bruce, A. E., & Lumley, M. N. (2006). The role of childhood abuse and neglect in the sensitization to stressful life events in adolescent depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 730741.Google Scholar
Hart, J., Gunnar, M. R., & Cicchetti, D. (1995). Altered neuroendocrine activity in maltreated children related to depression. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 201214.Google Scholar
Hayward, C., Gotlib, I. H., Schraedley, P. K., & Litt, I. F. (1999). Ethnic differences in the association between pubertal status and symptoms of depression in adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 25, 143149.Google Scholar
Heim, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2001). The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: Preclinical and clinical studies. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 10231039.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M. (1989). Coping with family transitions: Winners, losers, and survivors. Child Development, 60, 114.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M., & Stanley-Hagan, M. (1999). The adjustment of children with divorced parents: A risk and resiliency perspective. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 129140.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A. E., & Kagan, J. (1994). Models of dysfunction in developmental psychopathology. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 1, 3552.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Thornton, L. M., & Gardner, C. O. (2001). Genetic risk, number of previous depressive episodes, and stressful life events in predicting onset of major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 582586.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Davis, C. G., & Kendler, K. S. (1997). Childhood adversity and adult psychiatric disorder in the U.S. National Comorbidity Survey. Psychological Medicine, 27, 11011119.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., & Magee, W. (1993). Childhood adversities and adult depression: Basic patterns of association in a U.S. national survey. Psychological Medicine, 23, 679690.Google Scholar
Klein, D. N., Ouimette, P.C., Kelly, H. F., Ferro, T., & Riso, L. P. (1994). Test–retest reliability of team consensus best-estimate diagnoses of Axis I and II disorders in a family study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 10431047.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1980/1981). Rating scales to assess depression in school-aged children. Acta Paedopsychiatry, 46, 305315.Google Scholar
Laitinen-Krispijn, S., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (1999). The role of pubertal progress in the development of depression in early adolescence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 54, 211215.Google Scholar
Lerner, R. M. (1978). Nature, nurture, and dynamic interactionism. Human Development, 21, 120.Google Scholar
Lizardi, H., & Klein, D. N. (2000). Parental psychopathology and reports of the childhood home environment in adults with early-onset dysthymic disorder. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 188, 6370.Google Scholar
Monroe, S. M., & Harkness, K. L. (2005). Life stress, the “kindling” hypothesis, and the recurrence of depression: Considerations from a life stress perspective. Psychological Review, 112, 417445.Google Scholar
Monroe, S. M., & Simons, A. D. (1991). Diathesis-stress theories in the context of life stress research: Implications for the depressive disorders. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 406425.Google Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Girgus, J. S. (1994). The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 424443.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G. (2003). Early experiences and psychological development: Conceptual questions, empirical illustrations, and implications for intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 671690.Google Scholar
Orvaschel, H. (1995). Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children—Epidemiologic Version 5. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University.
Petersen, A. C., & Crockett, L. (1985). Pubertal timing and grade effects on adjustment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14, 191206.Google Scholar
Petersen, A. C., Crockett, L., Richards, M., & Boxer, A. (1988). A self-report measure of pubertal status: Reliability, validity, and initial norms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 17, 117133.Google Scholar
Petersen, A. C., & Hamburg, B. A. (1986). Adolescence: A developmental approach to problems and psychopathology. Behavior Therapy, 17, 480499.Google Scholar
Pine, D. S., & Charney, D. S. (2002). Children, stress, and sensitization: An integration of basic and clinical research on emotion? Biological Psychiatry, 52, 773775.Google Scholar
Post, R. M. (1992). Transduction of psychosocial stress into the neurobiology of recurrent affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 9991010.Google Scholar
Post, R. M. (1994). Mechanisms underlying the evolution of affective disorders: Implications for long-term treatment. In L. Grunhaus & J. F. Greden (Eds.), Severe depressive disorders. Progress in psychiatry (pp. 2365). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Post, R. M., Rubinow, D. R., & Ballenger, J. C. (1984). Conditioning, sensitization, and kindling implications for the course of affective illness. In R. M. Post & J. C. Ballenger (Eds.), Neurobiology of mood disorders (pp. 432466). Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
Robinson, N. S., Garber, J., & Hilsman, R. (1995). Cognitions and stress: Direct and moderating effects on depressive versus externalizing symptoms during the junior high school transition. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 453463.Google Scholar
Rose, A., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 98131.Google Scholar
Rose, D. T., & Abramson, L. Y. (1992). Developmental predictors of depressive cognitive style: Research and theory. In D. Cicchetti & S. L. Toth (Eds.), Developmental perspectives on depression (pp. 323349). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Rudolph, K. D. (2002). Gender differences in emotional responses to interpersonal stress during adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30, 313.Google Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. L. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactions in youngsters: A transactional perspective. Child Development, 70, 660677.Google Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Lindberg, N., Herzberg, D., & Daley, S. E. (2000). Toward an interpersonal life-stress model of depression: The developmental context of stress generation. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 215234.Google Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., & Daley, S. E. (2005). Mood disorders. In D. A. Wolfe & E. J. Mash (Eds.), Behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents (pp. 300342). New York: Guilford Press.
Rudolph, K. D., Kurlakowsky, K. D., & Conley, C. S. (2001). Developmental and social contextual origins of depressive control-related beliefs and behavior. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 447475.Google Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Lambert, S. M., Osborne, L., & Gathright, T. (2006). Development and validation of the Youth Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (Y-MASQ). Unpublished manuscript.
Sameroff, A. (1975). Transactional models in early social relations. Human Development, 18, 6579.Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. J. (1987). The social context of development. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Contemporary topics in developmental psychology (pp. 273291). New York: Wiley.
Sanchez, M. M., Ladd, C. O., & Plotsky, P. M. (2001). Early adverse experience as a developmental risk factor for later psychopathology: Evidence from rodent and primate models. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 419450.Google Scholar
Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M., Teasdale, J. D., & Gemar, M. (1996). A cognitive science perspective on kindling and episode sensitization in recurrent affective disorder. Psychological Medicine, 26, 371380.Google Scholar
Siegel, J. M., Yancey, A. K., Aneshensel, C. S., & Schuler, R. (1999). Body image, perceived pubertal timing, and adolescent mental health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 25, 155165.Google Scholar
Simmons, R. G., & Blyth, D. A. (1987). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Suomi, S. J. (1991). Adolescent depression and depressive symptoms: Insights from longitudinal studies with rhesus monkeys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 273287.Google Scholar
Susman, E. J., & Rogol, A. (2004). Puberty and psychological development. In R. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology. New York: Wiley.
Turner, J. E., & Cole, D. A. (1994). Development differences in cognitive diatheses for child depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 1532.Google Scholar
Watson, D., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Clark, L. A., Strauss, M. E., & McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: I. Evaluating the convergent and discriminant validity of anxiety and depression symptom scales. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 314.Google Scholar
Wichstrom, L. (1999). The emergence of gender difference in depressed mood during adolescence: The role of intensified gender socialization. Developmental Psychology, 35, 232245.Google Scholar
Zubin, J., & Spring, B. (1977). Vulnerability: A new view of schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 103126.Google Scholar