Repressive adaptation in children with cancer.

The constructs of repressive adaptive style and avoidant coping (blunting) were assessed as possible explanatory factors for previously reported findings of lower self-reported depression in children with cancer. Pediatric oncology patients 7–16 years old (n?=?107) and healthy control participants (n?=?442) completed measures of depressive symptoms, trait anxiety, defensiveness, and approach and avoidant coping. Oncology patients scored significantly lower on measures of depression and trait anxiety, and higher on defensiveness. Applying the adaptive style paradigm, the oncology group showed a significant excess of repressors. Depressive symptoms differed as a function of adaptive style, with repressors demonstrating the lowest levels of self-reported depression. Children with cancer also reported greater use of blunting, but this difference was small and appeared unrelated to depression scores. Within the cancer group, repressive adaptation was unrelated to time elapsed since diagnosis. These findings are discussed with reference to the ongoing controversy regarding cancer–personality style associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prevention of depressive symptoms in rural school children: A randomized controlled trial.

A controlled trial was conducted to evaluate a prevention program aimed at reducing depressive and anxious symptoms in rural school children. Seventh-grade children with elevated depression were selected. Nine primary schools (n=90) were randomly assigned to receive the program, and 9 control schools (n=99) received their usual health education classes. Children completed questionnaires on depression, anxiety, explanatory style, and social skills. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach, 1991). No intervention effects were found for depression. Intervention group children reported less anxiety than the control group after the program and at 6-month follow-up and more optimistic explanations at postintervention. Intervention group parents reported fewer child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at postintervention only. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical evaluation of DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder criteria in children and adolescents

Evaluated the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV], American Psychiatric Association, 1994) generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) criteria in children and adolescents. Clinic-referred children meeting criteria for DSM-IV GAD, those meeting criteria for another DSM-IV anxiety disorder, and normal children participated in a structured interview and completed self-report questionnaires. Groups were compared in terms of interview and self-report measures to examine convergent and discriminant validity. In addition, developmental differences, cross-informant symptom and syndrome agreement, and validity of parent and child report were determined. Finally, the symptoms comprising the GAD associated symptom criterion (Criterion C) were examined in terms of rate of endorsement and predictive power. Results showed that parameters of worry differentiated children with GAD from those with other anxiety disorders and controls. Developmental differences in the sample did not appear to necessitate a separate criteria set for the classification of generalized anxiety in children of this age. Symptoms from GAD Criterion C evidenced moderately high rates of endorsement and acceptable predictive power. Overall, the DSM-IV GAD criteria for children and adolescents are supported, but further evaluation is necessary before firm conclusions can be drawn.     

A longitudinal look at the relation between depression and anxiety in children and adolescents.

Elementary school students (n?=?330) and their parents (n?=?228) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the temporal relation between anxiety and depressive symptoms in children. Every 6 months, children and parents completed depression and anxiety questionnaires for a total of 6 waves. Structural equation modeling revealed that individual differences on all measures were remarkably stable over time. Nevertheless, high levels of anxiety symptoms at 1 point in time predicted high levels of depressive symptoms at subsequent points in time even after controlling for prior levels of depression symptoms. These findings were consistent across self- and parent reports. Results support the temporal hypothesis that anxiety leads to depression in children and adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young adolescent and maternal depression: Assessment, interrelations, and family predictors.

The present study examined (a) the relation between self-report and behavioral ratings of depression for young adolescents and their mothers; (b) the relation between adolescent and maternal depression; and (c) family correlates and predictors of adolescent and maternal depression. Sixty-nine nonclinic adolescents and their mothers completed self-report measures and participated in two behavioral observations 1 year apart. Self-report and behavioral-rating measures of depression were related for mothers but not for adolescents, and maternal depression and adolescent depression were not related to one another. In addition, marital conflict predicted maternal depression as measured by both self-reports and behavioral ratings, whereas parent–adolescent conflict predicted only self-reported adolescent depression. The differences found between maternal and adolescent depression are discussed, and the findings are contrasted with those reported for clinically depressed mothers and children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of depression and anxiety measures in White and Black youths: Multitrait–multimethod analyses.

The authors obtained yearly self-report, peer nomination, and teacher rating assessments of depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and social acceptance on 2 cohorts of African American (ns?=?139 and 184) and Caucasian school children (ns?=?328 and 339), yielding a total of 6 waves of data between 3rd and 8th grade. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the measures manifested significant convergent and discriminant validity in both groups. Multigroup analyses further demonstrated that the measures were equally valid across ethnic groups. Peer nomination measures of depression and anxiety symptoms were biased, however, leading to the underestimation of psychopathology in African American children and adolescents. Allowing for this bias, the authors discovered that African American children evinced more signs of depression and anxiety in Grades 3, 4, and 5 than did Caucasian children. Such differences were not significant in Grades 6, 7, and 8. No ethnic group differences emerged on the social acceptance dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents.

Anxiety and depression in children and adolescents are reviewed, including differential diagnosis, assessment of symptoms, family history data, developmental features, and clinical correlates. Findings indicate that 15.9% to 61.9% of children identified as anxious or depressed have comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders and that measures of anxiety and depression are highly correlated. Family history data are inconclusive. Differences emerged among children with anxiety, depression, or both disorders. Anxious children were distinguishable from the other 2 groups in that they showed less depressive symptomatology and tended to be younger. The concurrently depressed and anxious group tended to be older and more symptomatic. In this group, the anxiety symptoms tended to predate the depressive symptoms. Findings are discussed in the context of a proposed developmental sequence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attrition in the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders

The present study explored the differences between completers and terminators (including both refusers and dropouts) of an individual cognitive-behavioral treatment for childhood anxiety. Participants were 190 children with anxiety disorders and their parents: 146 completed treatment and 44 terminated. Terminators were more likely to live in a single-parent household, be ethnic minorities, and self-report less anxious symptomatology. Follow-up interviews indicated that identifiable child factors were influential in terminators' decisions to discontinue treatment. Among terminators, differences between refusers and dropouts were also investigated.     

Self-regulation as a moderator of the relation between coping and symptomatology in children of divorce

Investigated the effects of self-regulation as a moderator of the relations between coping efforts and psychological symptoms of children of divorce. The interactions of two dimensions of self-regulation (task orientation and approach-flexibility) and two dimensions of coping (active and avoidant) predicting children's postdivorce symptoms were tested using a sample of 199 divorced mothers and their children, ages 8 to 12. The approach-flexibility dimension moderated the relations of both active and avoidant coping with children's self-report of anxiety. At higher levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was negatively related to anxiety, while at lower levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was unrelated to anxiety. Avoidant coping was unrelated to anxiety at higher levels of approach-flexibility, whereas at lower levels of approach-flexibility, avoidant coping was positively related to anxiety. The task orientation dimension did not interact with coping, but had direct, independent effects on children's self-report of conduct problems, depression, and parent-report of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The implications for understanding children's coping with divorce and future directions for research are discussed.     

Information processing and cognitive organization in unipolar depression: Specificity and comorbidity issues.

This study investigated information processing and cognitive organization in clinical depression. The specificity of various cognitive mechanisms to depression was also examined. Twenty-six depressed/anxious individuals, 24 pure depressives, 25 never-depressed anxious controls, and 25 nonpsychiatric controls completed a modified Stroop task, the Self-Referent Encoding Task, and two tasks designed to assess cognitive structure. Comorbid depressed/anxious, depressed, and anxious groups performed similarly to one another but differed significantly from nonpsychiatric controls, on the processing and organization of negative content. Specificity to depression was also obtained, as both depressed groups endorsed and recalled less positive information and organized positive self-relevant information with less interconnectedness than anxious individuals and nonpsychiatric controls. These results suggest that depressed individuals have an interconnected negative self-representational system and lack a well-organized positive template of self. These findings are discussed in terms of cognitive models of depression and the tripartite model of depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

One-session treatment of specific phobias in youth: A randomized clinical trial in the United States and Sweden.

One hundred and ninety-six youth, ages 7–16, who fulfilled Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for various specific phobias were randomized to a one-session exposure treatment, education support treatment, or a wait list control group. After the waiting period, the wait list participants were offered treatment and, if interested, rerandomized to 1 of the 2 active treatments. The phobias were assessed with semistructured diagnostic interviews, clinician severity ratings, and behavioral avoidance tests, whereas fears, general anxiety, depression, and behavior problems were assessed with self- and parent report measures. Assessments were completed pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 6 months following treatment. Results showed that both treatment conditions were superior to the wait list control condition and that 1-session exposure treatment was superior to education support treatment on clinician ratings of phobic severity, percentage of participants who were diagnosis free, child ratings of anxiety during the behavioral avoidance test, and treatment satisfaction as reported by the youth and their parents. There were no differences on self-report measures. Treatment effects were maintained at follow-up. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fitting in and feeling fine: Conformity and coping motives as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking.

The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

People living with HIV infection who attend and do not attend support groups: a pilot study of needs, characteristics and experiences

People living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) confront a myriad of stressors over the course of their infection. Social support groups offer a means of addressing the support needs of people living with HIV. In the present study, 34 persons who had attended HIV support groups and 29 who had not attended groups completed measures of distress, coping, and social connectedness, and participated in open-ended interviews concerning their support group experiences. Results showed that those who attended support groups knew they were HIV-seropositive for a longer time, reported less emotional distress, and had more social contact than did non-attenders. However, non-attenders endorsed avoidant coping strategies to a greater extent. Analyses showed that time since testing positive accounted for differences between groups in social connectedness but not differences in anxiety, depression, or avoidance coping. Thus, HIV-seropositive persons become socially reconnected with time, but individuals with avoidant coping styles experience greater emotional distress and are unlikely to seek support groups. A sizeable proportion of people with HIV may therefore need supportive interventions, particularly nearer to the time that they test HIV-seropositive.     

Coping with perceived peer stress: Gender-specific and common pathways to symptoms of psychopathology.

This study investigated gender differences in the moderating and mediating effects of responses to stress on the association between perceived peer stress and symptoms of psychopathology. A sample of 295 middle school students (63.7% female; Mage = 12.39 years, SD = 0.99) completed self-report surveys on stress, coping, and behavioral problems. Involuntary responses to stress (e.g., physiological arousal, intrusive thoughts, impulsive action) mediated the association between perceived stress and anxiety/depression and aggression for girls and for boys. Disengagement coping (e.g., denial, avoidance) partially mediated the association between peer stress and anxiety/depression for boys and for girls. In contrast, disengagement coping mediated the association between peer stress and overt aggression for boys only. Finally, engagement coping (e.g., problem solving, emotion regulation, cognitive restructuring) buffered the indirect effect of peer stress on symptoms of psychopathology for girls only. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and depression in adolescent cancer: findings in patients and parents at the time of diagnosis

Adolescent cancer is uncommon and presents an exceptional stress for the young patient and their parents. The emotional needs of adolescents with cancer are a major factor in the recommendation for the establishment of adolescent cancer units in major cancer centres in the U.K. However, there have been no prospective, longitudinal studies assessing the psychological impact of a diagnosis of cancer on the adolescent patient and their family. In 1994 we began a longitudinal study of the emotional impact of the diagnosis of cancer in patients and their families presenting to an adolescent cancer unit and of the coping strategies they employ. This first report presents the results of the study at the time of diagnosis in 42 adolescents, 34 mothers and 27 fathers. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depression and anxiety levels were measured using Spielberger's State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Adolescents and their parents completed the questionnaires on first admission to the adolescent cancer unit. The median time since cancer diagnosis was approximately 3 weeks. To provide normative data for the U.K. adolescent population, control values were obtained from 173 pupils of the same age and background. The results showed that, contrary to expectation, adolescents with cancer were no more anxious or depressed than the control adolescent population. Nevertheless, a substantial minority of patients and controls had elevated anxiety or depression scores. Girls were significantly more anxious (P = 0.011) and depressed (P < 0.0001) than boys. Mothers were the most anxious family members and were significantly more anxious than fathers (P = 0.038). Parental anxiety scores, especially mothers, were much higher than reported norms. There was no significant difference between mothers' and fathers' depression scores. Although at the time of diagnosis adolescent cancer patients are not more anxious or depressed than their healthy peers, many adolescents without cancer are anxious or depressed. Staff on adolescent cancer units should therefore be aware of the frequency of emotional disturbance in this population. Mothers are the most anxious family members. Although the findings are relatively reassuring at the time of diagnosis, follow-up data from this cohort will show whether anxiety and depression change with treatment involving intensive chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy and will indicate the coping strategies which patients and their families adopt in dealing with both the disease and its treatment.     

Sources of ethnic differences between Asian American and White American college students on measures of depression and social anxiety.

This study tested an affect-specific explanation for the Asian and White American differences in depression and social anxiety. Construal of the self as independent or interdependent in relation to others (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, see record 1991-23978-001) was hypothesized to be 1 possible way in which culture may be expressed in individuals' psychological functioning, which in turn was hypothesized to be linked specifically to social anxiety. College students (N?=?348; 183 White Americans and 165 Asian Americans) completed self-report measures of depression, social anxiety, and self-construals. Asian Americans scored significantly higher than White Americans on measures of depression and social anxiety. When the covariance between depression and social anxiety was statistically controlled, ethnicity and self-construal variables were found, as predicted, to be associated with measures of social anxiety but not depression. These findings suggest a more differentiated perspective on the relations between culture, ethnicity, and emotional distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative affect and interpersonal rejection among prison inmates in a therapeutic community: A social relations analysis.

The authors used D. A. Kenny's (1994a) social relations model to examine J. C. Coyne's (1976b) interpersonal theory of depression among a clinical sample of well-acquainted prison inmates. Members of 12 therapy groups (N/&=/&142) diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder completed a self-report measure of depression and anxiety and indicated their desire to interact with other group members. There was both consensus about which group members were rejected and individual differences in the participants' reported desire for future interaction with other group members. Those reporting high levels of depressive negative affect were most likely to be rejected. Those lowest in positive affect indicated the least desire for future interaction with others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time course of processing emotional stimuli as a function of perceived emotional intelligence, anxiety, and depression.

An individual's self-reported abilities to attend to, understand, and reinterpret emotional situations or events have been associated with anxiety and depression, but it is unclear how these abilities affect the processing of emotional stimuli, especially in individuals with these symptoms. The present study recorded event-related brain potentials while individuals reporting features of anxiety and depression completed an emotion-word Stroop task. Results indicated that anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, and depression were associated with self-reported emotion abilities, consistent with prior literature. In addition, lower anxious apprehension and greater reported emotional clarity were related to slower processing of negative stimuli indexed by event-related potentials (ERPs). Higher anxious arousal and reported attention to emotion were associated with ERP evidence of early attention to all stimuli regardless of emotional content. Reduced later engagement with stimuli was also associated with anxious arousal and with clarity of emotions. Depression was not differentially associated with any emotion processing stage indexed by ERPs. Research in this area may lead to the development of therapies that focus on minimization of anxiety to foster successful emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style and self-esteem; The prediction of emotional distress following a midterm exam.

A midterm design was used to determine whether students' attributional style for negative achievement events interacts with self-esteem and a lower-than-expected exam grade to predict changes in measures of specific and nonspecific depression and anxiety. Participants were 141 students who completed baseline measures of attributional style and self-esteem, as well as affective measures on several occasions before and after receipt of midterm grades. A pessimistic attributional style for negative events interacted with self-esteem and outcome to predict residual changes in a combined measure of nonspecific distress and anxious arousal (marginal trend) but not a combined measure of specific depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, the greatest residual increases in distress occurred among low-self-esteem pessimists who experienced a nonfailure outcome. These effects did not appear to be mediated by changes in hopelessness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Premenstrual depression: A distinct entity.

Premenstrual symptom report of 30- to 45-year-old normal women was assessed retrospectively with the Premenstrual Assessment Form (Halbreich, Endicott, Schacht, & Nee, 1982). Women reporting premenstrual depression (PMD) or no psychological changes (controls) premenstrually completed daily symptom ratings during one menstrual cycle and were assessed pre- and postmenstrually with self-report depression inventories and a test of selective attention. Inspection of daily ratings revealed two distinct subgroups within the PMD group: 39% were confirmed as experiencing PMD and 36% reported intermittent depression throughout the cycle. Both self-report and selective attention data yielded distinctly different response patterns for the three groups, with only the PMD group reporting the classic premenstrual increase in depression. Implications of these findings for the validity and nature of the premenstrual depressive experience are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)