Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:11:39.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Life events and juvenile bipolar disorder: Conceptual issues and early findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2006

SHERI L. JOHNSON
Affiliation:
University of Miami
STEPHANIE MCMURRICH
Affiliation:
University of Miami

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the psychosocial variables that might predict the course of child and adolescent bipolar disorder. In the literature on adult bipolar disorder, life events have been shown to be a major predictor of symptoms. In this review, we focus on studies of how life events influence the course of child and adolescent bipolar disorder. To begin, we review methodological considerations in life events research, and briefly summarize the findings regarding life events in adult bipolar disorder. Then, we discuss available studies on life events as a predictor of the course of juvenile bipolar disorder. We conclude with suggested directions for future research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2006 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

Adrian, C., & Hammen, C. (1993). Stress exposure and stress generation in children of depressed mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 354359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biederman, J. (1995). Developmental subtypes of juvenile bipolar disorder. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 3, 227230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (1989). Biological and social contributions to negative affect in young adolescent girls. Child Development, 60, 4055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, G. A., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2003). Clinical implications of pervasive manic symptoms in children. Biological Psychiatry, 53, 10501058.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colombo, C., Benedetti, F., Barbini, B., Campori, E., & Smeraldi, E. (1999). Rate of switch from depression into mania after therapeutic sleep deprivation in bipolar depression. Psychiatry Research, 86, 267270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craney, J. L., & Geller, B. (2003). A prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder-I phenotype: Review of phenomenology and longitudinal course. Bipolar Disorders, 5, 243256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cueller, A. K., Johnson, S. L., & Winters, R. (2005). Distinctions between bipolar and unipolar depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 307339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daley, S. E., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Davila, J., Paley, B., Lindberg, N., et al. (1997). Predictors of the generation of episodic stress: A longitudinal study of late adolescent women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 251259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Depue, R. A., Collins, P. F., & Luciana, M. (1996). A model of neurobiology–environment interaction in developmental psychopathology. In M. F. Lenzenweger & J. J. Haugaard (Eds.), Frontiers of developmental psychopathology (8th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Duggal, S., Malkoff-Schwartz, S., Brimaher, B., Anderson, B. P, Matty, M. K., Houck, P. R., et al. (2000). Assessment of life stress in adolescents: Self-report versus interview methods. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 445452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehlers, C. L., Frank, E., & Kupfer, D. J. (1988). Social zeitgebers and biological rhythms. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 948952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellenbogen, M. A., & Hodgins, S. (2004). The impact of high neuroticism in parents on children's psychosocial functioning in a population at high risk for major affective disorder: A family-environmental pathway of intergenerational risk. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 113136.Google Scholar
Ellicott, A., Hammen, C., Gitlin, M., Brown, G., et al. (1990). Life events and the course of bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 11941198.Google Scholar
Findling, R. L., Gracious, B. L, McNamara, N. K., Youngstrom, E. A., Demeter, C. A., Branicky, L. A., et al. (2001). Rapid, continuous cycling and psychiatric co-morbidity in pediatric bipolar I disorder. Bipolar Disorders, 3, 202210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franko, D. L., Striegel-Moore, R. H., Brown, K. M., Barton, B. A., McMahon, R. P., Schreiber, G. B., et al. (2004). Expanding our understanding of the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in black and white adolescent girls. Psychological Medicine, 34, 13191330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuda, K., & Etoh, T. (1994). Residual impairment of social functioning in bipolar affective disorders after ten years of lithium therapy. Lithium, 5, 6366.Google Scholar
Ge, X., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., Elder, G. H., et al. (1994). Trajectories of stressful life events and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 467483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geller, B., Craney, J. L., Bolhofner, K., DelBello, M. P., Williams, M., & Zimerman, B. (2001). One-year recovery and relapse rates of children with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 303305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, S. H., & Gotlib, I. H. (1999). Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: A developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission. Psychological Review, 106, 458490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodyer, I., Kolvin, I., & Gatzanis, S. (1985). Recent undesirable life events and psychiatric disorder in childhood and adolescence. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 517523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, E. B., Jones, M., & Hammen, C. (1993). Maternal interaction style in affective disordered, physically ill, and normal women. Family Process, 32, 329340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammen, C. (1988). Self-cognitions, stressful events, and the prediction of depression in children of depressed mothers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 347360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammen, C. (1991). Generation of stress in the course of unipolar depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 555561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammen, C., Burge, D., & Adrian, C. (1991). Timing of mother and child depression in a longitudinal study of children at risk. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 341345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillegers, M. H., Burger, H., Wals, M., Reichart, C. G., Verhulst, F. C., Nolen, W. A., et al. (2004). Impact of stressful life events, familial loading and their interaction on the onset of mood disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 97101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. L. (2005). Life events in bipolar disorder: Towards more specific models. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 10081027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. L., & Fingerhut, R. (2006). Life events as predictors of relapse, depression and mania in bipolar disorder. In S. Jones & R. Bentall (Eds.), The psychology of bipolar disorder. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, S. L., & Meyer, B. (2004). Psychosocial predictors. In S. L. Johnson & R. L. Leahy (Eds.), Psychological treatments of bipolar disorder. New York: Guilford Press.
Johnson, S. L., & Miller, I. (1997). Negative life events and time to recovery from episodes of bipolar disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 449457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. L., & Roberts, J. E. (1995). Life events and bipolar disorder: Implications from biological theories. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 434449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. L., Sandrow, D., Meyer, B., Winters, R., Miller, I., Solomon, D. G., et al. (2000). Increases in manic symptoms after life events involving goal attainment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 721727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessing, L. V., Agerbo, E., & Mortensen, P. (2004). Major stressful life events and other risk factors for first admission with mania. Bipolar Disorders, 6, 122129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 593602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, E. Y., Miklowitz, D. J., Biuckians, A., & Mullen, K. (2006). Life stress and the course of early-onset bipolar disorder. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Larson, R. W., & Ham, M. (1993). Stress and “storm and stress” in early adolescence: The relationship of negative events with dysphoric affect. Developmental Psychology, 29, 130140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laursen, B. (1996). Closeness and conflict in adolescent peer relationships: Interdependence with friends and romantic partners. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Leenstra, A. S., Ormel, J., & Giel, R. (1995). Positive life change and recovery from depression and anxiety: A three-stage longitudinal study of primary care attenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 333343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leibenluft, E., Albert, P. S., Rosenthal, N. E., & Wehr, T. A. (1996). Relationship between sleep and mood in patients with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Research, 63, 161168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. R., Seeley, J. R., Buckley, M. E., & Klein, D. N. (2002). Bipolar disorder in adolescence and young adulthood. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 11, 461476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X., Kurita, H., Uchiyama, M., Okawa, M., Liu, L., & Ma, D. (2000). Life events, locus of control, and behavioral problems among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56, 15651577.3.0.CO;2-U>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malkoff-Schwartz, S., Frank, E., Anderson, B. P, Hlastala, S. A., Luther, J. F., Sherrill, J. T., et al. (2000). Social rhythm disruption and stressful life events in the onset of bipolar and unipolar episodes. Psychological Medicine, 30, 10051016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malkoff-Schwartz, S., Frank, E., Anderson, B. P., Sherrill, J. T., Siegel, L., Patterson, D., et al. (1998). Stressful life events and social rhythm disruption in the onset of manic and depressive bipolar episodes. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 702707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, B., Beevers, C. G., & Johnson, S. L. (2004). Goal appraisals and vulnerability to bipolar disorder: A personal projects analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 28, 173182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, B., Johnson, S. L., & Carver, C. S. (1999). Exploring behavioral activation and inhibition sensitivities among college students at risk for bipolar spectrum symptomatology. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 21, 275292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, B., Johnson, S. L., & Winters, R. (2001). Responsiveness to threat and incentive in bipolar disorder: Relations of the BIS/BAS scales with symptoms. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 133143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miklowitz, D., & Johnson, S. L. (2006). Psychopathology and treatment of bipolar disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2, 199235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monck, E., & Dobbs, R. (1985). Measuring life events in an adolescent population: Methodological issues and related findings. Psychological Medicine, 15, 841850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monroe, S. M., & Simmons, A. D. (1991). Diathesis-stress theories in the context of life stress research: Implications for the depressive disorders. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 406425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petti, T., Reich, W., Joshi, P., Galvin, M., Reich, T., DePaulo, J. R., Jr., et al. (2004). Psychosocial variables in children and teens of extended families identified though bipolar affective disorder probands. Bipolar Disorders, 6, 106114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, R. M., Weiss, S. R. B. (1998). Sensitization and kindling phenomena in mood, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorders: The role of serotonergic mechanisms in illness progression. Biological Psychiatry, 44, 193206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pynoos, R. S., Steinberg, A. M., & Piacentini, J. C. (1999). A developmental psychopathology model of childhood traumatic stress and intersection with anxiety disorders. Biological Psychiatry, 46, 15421554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly-Harrington, N. A., Alloy, L. B., Fresco, D. M., & Whitehouse, W. G. (1999). Cognitive styles and life events interact to predict bipolar and unipolar symptomatology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 567578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactions in youngsters: A transactional perspective. Child Development, 70, 660677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Lindberg, N., Hertzberg, D., & Daley, S. E. (2000). Toward an interpersonal life-stress model of depression: The developmental context of stress generation. Developmental and Psychopathology, 12, 215234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, S., McGuinness, D., Hillary, C., & Rutter, M. (1998). Independence of childhood life events and chronic adversities: A comparison of two patient groups and controls. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 728735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, S., Rutter, M., Giles, S., Owen, A., et al. (1993). Assessment of psychosocial experiences in childhood: Methodological issues and some illustrative findings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 879897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shum, M. S. (1998). The role of temporal landmarks in autobiographical memory processes. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 423442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, R. G., & Blyth, D. A. (1987). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Strober, M., Morrell, W., Burroughs, J., Lampert, C., Danforth, H., & Freeman, R. (1988). A family study of bipolar I disorder in adolescence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 15, 255268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, S. K., & Johnson, S. J. (2002). Hypomanic tendencies predict lower startle magnitudes during pleasant pictures. Psychophysiology, 39(Suppl.), S80.Google Scholar
Tillman, R., Geller, B., Nickelsburg, M. J., Bolhofner, K., Craney, J. L., DelBello, M. P., et al. (2003). Life events in a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype compared to attention-deficit hyperactive and normal controls. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 13, 243251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, R. D., Neuman, R., Geller, B., Fox, L. W., & Hickok, J. (1993). Genetic studies of affective disorders: Should we be starting with childhood onset probands? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 11641171.Google Scholar
Turner, J. E., & Cole, D. A. (1994). Development differences in cognitive diatheses for child depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 1532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, B. M., & Compas, B. E. (1990). Gender, instrumentality, and expressivity: Moderators of the relation between stress and psychological symptoms during adolescence. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 383406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wals, M., Hillegers, M. H. J., Reichart, C. G., Verhulst, F. C., Nolen, W. A., & Ormel, J. (2005). Stressful life events and onset of mood disorders in children of bipolar parents during 14-month follow-up. Journal of Affective Disorders, 87, 253263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wehr, T. A., Sack, D. A., & Rosenthal, N. E. (1987). Sleep reduction as a final common pathway in the genesis of mania. Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 201204.Google Scholar
Wehr, T. A., Turner, E. H., Shimada, J. M., Lowe, C. H., Barker, C., & Leibenluft, E. (1998). Treatment of a rapidly cycling bipolar patient by using extended bed rest and darkness to stabilize the timing and duration of sleep. Biological Psychiatry, 43, 822828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, D. E., Birmaher, B., Frank, E., Anderson, B. P., Matty, M. K., & Kupfer, D. J. (1998). Nature of life events and difficulties in depressed adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 10491057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winett, C. A. (2001). The mediating role of insomnia in the relation between life events and depression and mania (Doctoral dissertation, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering.
Yamamoto, K., Whittaker, J. & Davis, O. L., Jr. (1998). Stressful events in the lives of UK children: A glimpse. Educational Studies, 24, 305314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar