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Joint trajectories of depression and perfectionism across adolescence and childhood risk factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2017

Tracy Vaillancourt  and
John D. Haltigan
Tracy Vaillancourt*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
John D. Haltigan
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Tracy Vaillancourt, Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education and School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada; E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

The codevelopment of symptoms of depression and socially prescribed perfectionism across adolescence (age 12–17) and non–age-overlapping childhood predictors (age 10–11) of joint trajectory group membership were examined in a sample of 700 Canadian youth. Results indicated that most adolescents (75.8%) followed a trajectory of low depression symptoms (low stable), whereas 15.7% followed an increasing trajectory (increasing), and 8.5% followed a trajectory that began high and decreased over time (high decreasing). More girls than boys were found in the increasing and high decreasing depression trajectories. Adolescents followed three distinct trajectories of socially prescribed perfectionism: 41.6% were in a low stable group, 40.5% in a moderate increasing group, and 17.9% in a high increasing group. Eight percent followed a high-risk dual trajectory of increasing depression and high increasing socially prescribed perfectionism. This joint trajectory was predicted by being bullied, anxious, and relationally aggressive (compared to the low-risk trajectory of low stable depression and perfectionism) at ages 10 and 11. These same predictors, along with poorer family functioning and lower family income, differentiated the joint high decreasing depression/high increasing perfectionism group from the low/low joint group, which comprised of 3.8% of the sample. The developmental progression was best characterized as depression leading to socially prescribed perfectionism. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , May 2018 , pp. 461 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

This study was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. We thank Heather Brittain, Amanda Krygsman, and Patricia McDougall for help with the study. We also thank Gordon L. Flett for his very helpful comments.

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