Similarity in depressive symptoms in adolescents' friendship dyads: Selection or socialization?

This study examined friendship selection and socialization as mechanisms explaining similarity in depressive symptoms in adolescent same-gender best friend dyads. The sample consisted of 1,752 adolescents (51% male) ages 12–16 years (M = 13.77, SD = 0.73) forming 487 friend dyads and 389 nonfriend dyads (the nonfriend dyads served as a comparison group). To test our hypothesis, we applied a multigroup actor–partner interdependence model to 3 friendship types that started and ended at different time points during the 2 waves of data collection. Results showed that adolescents reported levels of depressive symptoms at follow-up that were similar to those of their best friends. Socialization processes explained the increase in similarity exclusively in female dyads, whereas no evidence for friendship selection emerged for either male or female dyads. Additional analyses revealed that similarity between friends was particularly evident in the actual best friend dyads (i.e., true best friends), in which evidence for socialization processes emerged for both female and male friend dyads. Findings highlight the importance of examining friendship relations as a potential context for the development of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent Girls' Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Examination of Reassurance-Seeking and Peer Relationships.

A transactional, interpersonal framework involving adolescents' reassurance-seeking and peer experiences may be useful for understanding the emergence of gender differences in depression prevalence during the adolescent transition. Sociometric nominations of peer acceptance/rejection and ratings of friendship quality provided by adolescents and their friends were used to measure peer experiences among 6th-8th-grade adolescents (N = 520) over 3 annual time points. After controlling for age and pubertal development, significant but small prospective effects offered mixed support for hypotheses: (a) depressive symptoms and negative peer relations predicted increasing levels of girls' reassurance-seeking; (b) initial levels of reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted deteriorating friendship quality among girls and low friendship stability, respectively; and (c) reassurance-seeking combined with poor peer experiences predicted increases in girls' depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caretaking behaviors by adolescent children of mothers with and without a history of depression.

In a sample of 72 mothers with and without a history of depression and their adolescent children, maternal depression history, current maternal depressive symptoms, intrusive and withdrawn parental behavior, and adolescent caretaking behaviors were examined as predictors of adjustment in these youth. Two types of caretaking behaviors were examined: emotional (e.g., caring for a parent's emotional distress) and instrumental (e.g., looking after younger siblings). Although adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression were comparable on levels of both types of caretaking, caretaking was associated with adolescents' reports of anxiety–depression and mothers' reports of social competence only for adolescents of mothers with a history of depression. Moreover, regression models showed that among children of mothers with a history of depression, emotional, but not instrumental, caretaking was related to adolescents' anxiety–depression symptoms and social competence after controlling for current parental depressive symptoms and stressful parenting behaviors. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contribution of extracurricular activities to adolescent friendships: New insights through social network analysis.

Extracurricular activities are settings that are theorized to help adolescents maintain existing friendships and develop new friendships. The overarching goal of the current investigation was to examine whether coparticipating in school-based extracurricular activities supported adolescents' school-based friendships. We used social network methods and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether dyadic friendship ties were more likely to exist among activity coparticipants while controlling for alternative friendship processes, namely dyadic homophily (e.g., demographic and behavioral similarities) and network-level processes (e.g., triadic closure). Results provide strong evidence that activities were associated with current friendships and promoted the formation of new friendships. These associations varied based on school level (i.e., middle vs. high school) and activity type (i.e., sports, academic, arts). Results of this study provide new insight into the complex relations between activities and friendship that can inform theories of their developmental outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of family, peer, and school contexts on depressive symptoms in adolescents with spina bifida.

Objective: Based on social ecological theory, this study examined the joint relations among adolescents' family, peer, and school contexts and depressive symptoms in youth with spina bifida using cumulative, protective, and specific effects models. Method: Sixty families of adolescents with spina bifida and 65 comparison families reported on adolescents' positive experiences within these contexts and on depressive symptoms when youth were 14–15 and 16–17 years old. Results: Adolescents with spina bifida had fewer total positive contexts and less positive experience within peer and school contexts, as compared to typically developing adolescents. Greater total number of positive contexts and higher levels of positive experiences within family and school contexts were associated with fewer depressive symptoms for both groups; peer positive experiences were related to lower depressive symptoms for typically developing adolescents only. Conclusion: Adolescents with spina bifida have fewer positive contexts, which may place them at risk for higher levels of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Close friend and group influence on adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use.

The relative influence of adolescents' closest friends and their friendship group on their cigarette smoking and alcohol use was investigated in a short-term, longitudinal study of 1,028 students in the 6th, 8th and 10th grades in 2 school systems. The amount of influence over the school year was modest in magnitude and came from the closest friend for initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only the friendship group use predicted transition into current cigarette use, whereas only the close friend use predicted transition into current alcohol use. Both group and close friends independently contributed to the prediction of adolescents' drinking to intoxication. No difference in the amount of influence, was found between stable and unstable close friendships or friendship groups; neither grade nor gender of the adolescents related to the amount of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family cohesion, family adaptability, social support, and adolescent depressive symptoms in outpatient clinic families.

The relationships among adolescent depressive symptoms and self-reported family cohesion, adaptability, satisfaction with family functioning, family structure, and social support received from family and friends were investigated in a sample of 93 families attending family therapy at an outpatient clinic. Results were in keeping with previous studies of nonclinical samples, in that family cohesion and family social support were inversely related to depression. In contrast to nonclinical samples, family characteristics were more strongly associated with depression among boys than among girls, and social support from friends did not act as a buffer against depression. The strongest predictor of depressive symptoms was adolescents' levels of satisfaction with the cohesiveness and adaptability in their families, suggesting the importance of subjective cognitive appraisal in the link between family functioning and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions, depressive symptoms, and development in adolescents.

Examined the generalizability of cognitive models of depression to adolescents and explored developmental differences with regard to depressotypic cognitions. Self-reported depressive symptoms and various hypothesized cognitive correlates (e.g., automatic thoughts, attributions, dysfunctional attitudes) were investigated in a sample of 688 adolescents in Grades 7–12. Measures of normative adolescent cognitions (e.g., egocentrism, self-consciousness) also were included. There was a strong association between negative thinking and depression in adolescents. There was no association between depressogenic thinking and age, nor did the strength of the association between negative cognitions and depression vary from early to middle adolescence. Finally, negative cognitions were associated with self-report measures of both depressive and anxious symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do birds of a feather flock together? The variable bases for African American, Asian American, and European American adolescents' selection of similar friends.

Variability in adolescent-friend similarity is documented in a diverse sample of African American, Asian American, and European American adolescents. Similarity was greatest for substance use, modest for academic orientations, and low for ethnic identity. Compared with Asian American and European American adolescents, African American adolescents chose friends who were less similar with respect to academic orientation or substance use but more similar with respect to ethnic identity. For all three ethnic groups, personal endorsement of the dimension in question and selection of cross-ethnic-group friends heightened similarity. Similarity was a relative rather than an absolute selection criterion: Adolescents did not choose friends with identical orientations. These findings call for a comprehensive theory of friendship selection sensitive to diversity in adolescents' experiences. Implications for peer influence and self-development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendship homophily among ethnic German immigrants: A longitudinal comparison between recent and more experienced immigrant adolescents.

Immigrant adolescents have been found to show high levels of friendship homophily (the tendency to prefer intra-ethnic over interethnic friends). Based on acculturation theories, we predicted longitudinal changes and interindividual differences in level and rate of change in friendship homophily by immigrant composition of school, parental objections to the cultural adaptation of their offspring, discrimination, and language use. Altogether 218 newcomer and 272 experienced adolescents who had emigrated from the former Soviet Union to Germany participated in 4 annual assessments. Friendship homophily was assessed by percentage of intra-ethnic friends. Results revealed higher levels of friendship homophily among newcomer (75%) than among experienced (65%) adolescents at Time 1, and a significant decrease over time was found only among newcomers. Higher age, higher percentage of immigrants at school, and lower levels of new language use all related to higher friendship homophily. Rate of change in friendship homophily was strongly related to change in new language use. Findings suggest that friendship formation with native adolescents is related to social learning processes, in which new language use plays a crucial role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive vulnerability to depressive symptoms in adolescents in urban and rural Hunan, China: A multiwave longitudinal study.

The current multiwave longitudinal study examined the applicability of two cognitive vulnerability-stress models of depression—Beck's (1967, 1983) cognitive theory and the hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989)—in two independent samples of adolescents from Hunan Province, China (one rural and one urban). During an initial assessment, participants completed measures assessing dysfunctional attitudes (Beck, 1967, 1983), negative cognitive style (Abramson et al., 1989), neuroticism (Costa & McCrae, 1992), depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Once a month for the subsequent 6 months, participants completed measures assessing the occurrence of different types of negative events, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Results provided support for cognitive vulnerability factors as predictors of increases in depressive symptoms following the occurrence of higher than average levels of negative events in Chinese adolescents. The results also supported the specificity of these two cognitive vulnerability factors as predictors of depressive versus anxiety symptoms following the occurrence of higher than average levels of negative events (i.e., symptom specificity), and the ability of cognitive vulnerability factors to predict prospective change in depressive symptoms above and beyond the effects of trait neuroticism (i.e., etiological specificity). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is Depression Best Viewed as a Continuum or Discrete Category? A Taxometric Analysis of Childhood and Adolescent Depression in a Population-Based Sample.

The authors examined the latent structure of depression in a population-based sample of children and adolescents. Youth's self-reports and parents' reports of the youth's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) major depressive symptoms were assessed via a structured clinical interview. The authors used Meehl's (1995) taxometric procedures to discern whether youth depression is dimensional or categorical. Taxometric analyses that explicitly took into account the skewness of depressive symptoms suggested that depression is a dimensional, not categorical, construct. The dimensional structure of depression was obtained for all of the DSM-IV major depressive symptoms as well as for different domains of depression (emotional distress symptoms and vegetative, involuntary defeat symptoms), youth and parent reports, and different subsamples (i.e., boys vs. girls and younger vs. older youth). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with increased uncertainty in the field of work and family life.

Globalization, demographic aging, and individualization and pluralization of life courses have led to individuals' increasing uncertainty regarding their future. The effects of social change on the lives of individuals, however, may depend on coping processes. The authors analyzed whether perceived uncertainty due to social change, problem-focused coping, and distancing from demands would be related to depressive symptoms in 1,975 German adolescents and adults. A higher number of perceived demands in the areas of work and family life (e.g., perceived increase of difficulties with finding adequate jobs and of instability of one's intimate relationship) were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. In addition, higher levels of problem-focused coping were related to fewer depressive symptoms, whereas higher levels of distancing from demands were related to more depressive symptoms. Problem-focused coping buffered the effect of family-related demands but not of work-related demands on depressive symptoms. Finally, distancing from demands buffered the effects of family-related demands but amplified the effects of work-related demands on depression. In sum, the present study supports the main effects model and the interaction effects model of coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of the first onset of a major depressive episode and changes in depressive symptoms across adolescence: Stress and negative cognitions.

This 6-year longitudinal study examined stressors (e.g., interpersonal, achievement), negative cognitions (self-worth, attributions), and their interactions in the prediction of (a) the first onset of a major depressive episode (MDE), and (b) changes in depressive symptoms in adolescents who varied in risk for depression. The sample included 240 adolescents who were first evaluated in Grade 6 (M = 11.86 years old; SD = 0.57; 54.2% female) and then again annually through Grade 12. Stressful life events and depressive diagnoses were assessed with interviews; negative cognitions and depressive symptoms were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Discrete time hazard modeling revealed a significant interaction between interpersonal stressors and negative cognitions, indicating that first onset of an MDE was predicted by high negative cognitions in the context of low interpersonal stress, and by high levels of interpersonal stressors at both high and low levels of negative cognitions. Analyses of achievement stressors indicated significant main effects of stress, negative cognitions, and risk in the prediction of an MDE, but no interactions. With regard to the prediction of depressive symptoms, multilevel modeling revealed a significant interaction between interpersonal stressors and negative cognitions such that among adolescents with more negative cognitions, higher levels of interpersonal stress predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms, whereas at low levels of negative cognitions, the relation between interpersonal stressors and depression was not significant. Risk (i.e., maternal depression history) and sex did not further moderate these interactions. Implications for intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prospective study of stress autonomy versus stress sensitization in adolescents at varied risk for depression.

This longitudinal study investigated the stress autonomy, stress sensitization, and depression vulnerability hypotheses in adolescents across 6 years (i.e., Grades 6 through 12). Participants were 240 children (Time 1 mean age = 11.86, SD = 0.57) who varied in risk for depression on the basis of their mother's history of mood disorders. All analyses were conducted as multilevel models to account for nesting in the data. Results were consistent with the stress sensitization hypothesis. The within-subject relation of stress levels to depressive symptoms strengthened with increasing numbers of prior depressive episodes. In addition, evidence consistent with the vulnerability hypothesis was found. The relation of stress levels to depressive symptoms was stronger for adolescents who were at risk for depression on the basis of maternal depression history and for those who had experienced more depressive episodes through Grade 12. These findings suggest that onsets of depression in adolescents may be predicted by both relatively stable and dynamic transactions between stressful life events and vulnerabilities such as maternal depression and youths' own history of depressive episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Benefit finding, affective reactions to diabetes stress, and diabetes management among early adolescents.

Objective: To examine whether benefit finding was associated with better adjustment among adolescents with diabetes by buffering negative affective reactions to diabetes stress and by promoting positive affective reactions. Design: Early adolescents aged 10–14 with Type 1 diabetes (n = 252) described recent diabetes stressors, affective reactions, and perceived coping effectiveness. They also completed measures of benefit finding, depressive symptoms, and adherence. Metabolic control (i.e., HbA1c) was obtained from medical records. Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measures were perceived coping effectiveness, depressive symptoms, adherence, and HbA1c. Results: Benefit finding was associated with lower depressive symptoms, higher perceived coping effectiveness and better adherence, and with higher positive as well as negative affective reactions to diabetes stress. Benefit finding interacted with negative affective reactions to predict depressive symptoms and HbA1c. Negative affective reactions to stress were associated with poorer adjustment among those with low benefit finding, but were unrelated or more weakly related to poor adjustment among those with high benefit finding. Positive affective reactions did not mediate associations between benefit finding and any outcome. Conclusions: Consistent with a stress-buffering process, benefit finding may be a resource that buffers the disruptive aspects of negative affective reactions to stress for adolescents' diabetes management. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Co-rumination predicts the onset of depressive disorders during adolescence.

The tendency to co-ruminate, or frequently discuss and rehash problems with peers, may serve as one mechanism in the dramatic rise in depression observed during adolescence, particularly among adolescent girls. In the current study, our goal was (a) to test the hypothesis that adolescents' levels of co-rumination would predict the onset of clinically significant depressive episodes over a 2-year follow-up and (b) to determine whether levels of co-rumination would mediate gender differences in risk for depression onset. Both hypotheses were supported. Results of survival analysis revealed that adolescents with higher levels of co-rumination at the initial assessments exhibited a significantly shorter time to depression onset. Levels of co-rumination also mediated the gender difference in time to depression onset. These results were maintained even when adolescents' baseline levels of depressive symptoms and rumination were covaried statistically. Finally, co-rumination also predicted the course of illness in terms of episode severity and duration. Results suggest that co-rumination contributes a unique risk for the development of depression in adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendship Jealousy in Young Adolescents: Individual Differences and Links to Sex, Self-Esteem, Aggression, and Social Adjustment.

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free from socially desirable responding. As expected, girls and adolescents with low self-worth reported the greatest friendship jealousy. Study 2 involved 399 young adolescents and extended the measurement of self-report jealousy to a broader age range. In addition, Study 2 included assessments of jealousy provided by friends and other peers. Self- and peer-reported jealousy were only modestly associated and had somewhat distinct correlates. Structural modeling revealed that young adolescents' reputation for friendship jealousy was linked to behaving aggressively and to broader peer adjustment difficulties. Both self- and peer-reported jealousy contributed to loneliness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of adolescent peer networks.

Structural aspects of school-based peer networks of adolescents in 6th to 12th grade were mapped in 3 school systems. Female students were more connected to the peer network than were male students, and peer networks became more exclusive with increasing grade. The results also suggest that numeric minorities usually are less connected to school peer networks than the majority group. There was mixed evidence for hierarchical organization of the peer network. Best friends were highly embedded in friendship groups, but neither friendship group nor best friendship was highly embedded in social crowd. Adolescents name friends who are not in their friendship group and usually do not name everyone in the friendship group as a friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms can be useful: Self-regulatory and emotional benefits of dysphoric mood in adolescence.

Propositions derived from evolutionary biology and personality psychology suggest that depressive symptoms may serve adaptive functions by enabling people to adjust to unattainable goals, which in turn promotes quality of life. The authors tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal study of adolescent girls involving 4 waves of data collected over approximately 19 months. The authors expected that high baseline levels of depressive symptoms would facilitate the development of adolescents’ goal adjustment capacities (i.e., goal disengagement capacities and goal reengagement capacities). In addition, the authors expected that improvements in goal adjustment capacities over time would presage lower levels of subsequent depressive symptoms. Data from the first 3 waves produced results demonstrating that baseline levels of depressive symptoms predicted an increase in goal disengagement capacities over time but not in goal reengagement capacities. Moreover, increases in goal disengagement capacities predicted a reduction in subsequent depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that depressive symptomatology may serve adaptive functions by facilitating the development of goal disengagement capacities in adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)