Adjustment to a dyadic stressor: A longitudinal study of coping and depressive symptoms in infertile couples over an insemination attempt.

In a study designed to examine how intimate partners' coping processes with regard to infertility predicted depressive symptoms across the course of a treatment cycle, 43 couples completed assessments in the week prior to and the week after receiving a negative pregnancy result from an alternate insemination attempt by the partner. Depressive symptoms in both partners increased significantly after the pregnancy result receipt. As hypothesized, avoidant coping predicted increased distress over time, and approach-oriented coping (e.g., problem-focused coping, emotional processing, and expression) predicted decreased distress. Coping strategies engaged in by both individuals and partners predicted depressive symptoms, and for women, interactions also emerged between their own and their partners' coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship satisfaction instability and depression.

In this study, we explored whether the degree of temporal instability in relationship satisfaction might add to our understanding of the well-documented association between relationship quality and depression. We hypothesized that greater relationship satisfaction instability would be associated with higher depressive symptoms, controlling for mean satisfaction levels. We conducted 12 weekly assessments of relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms in a sample of 131 cohabiting and married women, and used intraindividual standard deviations of scores over the 12 weeks as an index of instability. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, relationship satisfaction instability predicted variance in depressive symptoms beyond that predicted by mean satisfaction; women whose weekly relationship satisfaction fluctuated more widely tended to have higher depressive symptoms. In comparison, temporal instability in depressive symptoms did not predict variance in relationship satisfaction beyond that predicted by mean depressive symptoms. Prospective analyses tentatively suggested that satisfaction instability may precede rather than follow elevated depressive symptoms. Results suggest the utility of assessing relationship satisfaction instability in future studies exploring links between marital quality and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Don't hide your happiness! Positive emotion dissociation, social connectedness, and psychological functioning.

It is now clear that positive emotion leads to enhanced psychological functioning. What is less clear, however, is just why this is so. Drawing on a social-functional perspective, we argue that positive emotional behavior that accurately signals to others the individual's internal state will enhance social connectedness. Positive emotional behavior that does not accurately signal a person's experience—such as a smile that is not felt—may impede social connectedness and, in turn, psychological functioning. This perspective suggests that (a) the degree to which experience and behavior are dissociated during positive emotional episodes, over and above level of positive behavior, should predict worse psychological functioning and (b) the effect of dissociation should be mediated by social connectedness. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a short-term prospective longitudinal study, with a baseline assessment of depressive symptoms and well-being at Time 1. Six months later, at Time 2, we used a novel within-individual laboratory paradigm to measure the degree to which positive emotional behavior was dissociated from (vs. coherent with) a participant's positive emotional experience. We also assessed level of positive behavior and experience. Then, another 6 months later, we assessed social connectedness as a mediator and depressive symptoms and well-being as outcomes at Time 3. Even when controlling for baseline functioning and for level of positive emotion behavior and experience, we found that greater positive experience–behavior dissociation at Time 2 predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of well-being at Time 3. As predicted, these associations were mediated by social connectedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional self-disclosure and emotional avoidance: Relations with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Research suggests that individuals with heightened symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders engage in diminished emotional disclosure. On the basis of emotion regulation theories, the authors hypothesized that this symptom–disclosure relationship would be mediated by the avoidance of emotional experience and expression. In Study 1, college students (N = 831) completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms, measures of tendencies to avoid emotional expression, and measures of tendencies to self-disclose distress. Structural equation modeling revealed that anhedonic depression and anxious arousal were associated with lessened emotional self-disclosure tendencies as mediated by avoidance of emotional expression. In Study 2, participants (N = 153) completed new measures of depression and anxiety symptoms, reflected on the most significant emotional event experienced during the past week, and rated their avoidance of emotion about the event and their self-disclosure of the event. Depression (but not anxiety) symptoms were negatively related to the disclosure of a specific event, but avoidance of emotional experience did not mediate this depression–disclosure relationship. These findings extend emotion dysregulation theory and suggest that depressive symptoms in particular are associated with reduced emotional disclosure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapy processes and outcomes of psychological interventions for women diagnosed with gynecological cancers: A test of the generic process model of psychotherapy.

Objective: Little attention has been paid to the role of nonspecific therapy processes in the efficacy of psychological interventions for individuals diagnosed with cancer. The goal of the current study was to examine the three constructs from the generic model of psychotherapy (GMP): therapeutic alliance, therapeutic realizations, and therapeutic openness/involvement in the treatment outcome of women with gynecological cancers attending either a 7-session supportive counseling intervention or a coping and communication skills intervention. Method: Two hundred and three women completed measures of alliance, realizations, and openness after Intervention Sessions 2, 3, and 6, as well as measures of depressive symptoms after these sessions and 6 months after the pre-intervention assessment (posttreatment). Results: Consistent with the GMP, in early sessions, therapeutic bond predicted openness in terms of positive affect experienced during sessions, and both aspects of openness (positive and negative affect), in turn, predicted more therapeutic realizations. Therapeutic realizations predicted perceptions of greater session progress, and greater therapeutic bond predicted more therapeutic realizations. When early session GMP variables were used to predict later GMP processes and outcomes and posttreatment outcomes, early therapeutic bond predicted later session therapeutic realizations directly and indirectly via emotional arousal, emotional arousal predicted session progress, session progress predicted lower postsession depressive symptoms, and depressive symptoms as rated after Session 6 predicted depressive symptoms 3 months posttreatment. However, a number of additional associations among GMP processes were found. Conclusions: Our results suggest that therapy processes played a role in predicting both short- and long-term treatment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of facial expressions of emotion during binocular rivalry.

Binocular rivalry is the perceptual alternation between two incompatible stimuli presented simultaneously but to each eye separately. The observer's perception switches back and forth between the two stimuli that are competing for perceptual dominance. In two studies, pictures of emotional faces (disgust and happy) were pitted against each other or against pictures of faces with neutral expressions. Study 1 demonstrated that (a) emotional facial expressions predominate over neutral expressions, and (b) positive facial expressions predominate over negative facial expression (i.e., positivity bias). Study 2 examined individual differences in emotional predominance and positivity bias during binocular rivalry. Although the positivity bias was not affected by the levels of depressive symptoms, results demonstrated that emotional predominance diminished as the level of depressive symptoms increased. These results indicate that individuals who report more depressive symptoms compared to their less depressed counterparts tend to assign more meaning to neutral faces. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intraindividual relations between the intensity and disclosure of daily emotional events: The moderating role of depressive symptoms.

Individuals with high levels of depressive symptoms tend to engage in lower levels of emotional disclosure than individuals who are lower in depressive symptoms. However, little is known about how depressive symptoms relate to the intraindividual relation between daily disclosure and the intensity of the daily events. The authors addressed these relations using a daily diary methodology. College students (N = 239) completed a measure of depression symptoms. They then completed measures of the intensity of the day’s most unpleasant event and their disclosure of that event each day for 7 days. Results indicated that depression moderated the intensity–disclosure relation such that depression symptoms were associated with diminished emotional disclosure for high-intensity events but not for low-intensity events. Individuals with relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms also experienced unpleasant daily events at a higher intensity level than did individuals with relatively fewer symptoms. Sex differences emerged such that men were less likely than women to disclose high-intensity negative events. These findings extend the use of the diary methodology to the study of emotional disclosure and also suggest possible interventions for counseling psychology practitioners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and emotional functioning in early adolescence: longitudinal relations, patterns, and prediction by experience in middle school

Adopting a motivational perspective on adolescent development, these two companion studies examined the longitudinal relations between early adolescents' school motivation (competence beliefs and values), achievement, emotional functioning (depressive symptoms and anger), and middle school perceptions using both variable- and person-centered analytic techniques. Data were collected from 1041 adolescents and their parents at the beginning of seventh and the end of eight grade in middle school. Controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses in Study 1 showed reciprocal relations between school motivation and positive emotional functioning over time. Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle school learning environment (support for competence and autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional functioning after accounting for demographic and prior adjustment measures. Cluster analyses in Study 2 revealed several different patterns of school functioning and emotional functioning during seventh grade that were stable over 2 years and that were predictably related to adolescents' reports of their middle school environment. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of schooling for multiple adjustment outcomes during adolescence.     

Psychosocial predictors of employment status among men living with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To explore the relationship between employment status and community access, perceived community discrimination, social support from significant others, depressive symptoms, and gender-related variables for 83 men living with spinal cord injury. Study Design: Correlational research. Setting: Internet-based investigation employing spinal cord injury listservs. Main Outcome Measure: Participant employment status. Results: A forced-entry hierarchical logistic regression indicated that means of injury, community access and perceived community discrimination, social support from significant others, depressive symptoms, and men’s adherence to masculine norms for primacy of work, self-reliance, and emotional control significantly predicted employment status. Conclusions: Psychosocial variables such as community access, perceived discrimination, social support from significant others, depressive symptoms, and gender identity represent important and understudied predictors of employment status among men living with spinal cord injury. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents.

Adolescents (N=2,272) from Hong Kong and the United States provided information regarding their depressive symptoms, cognitions (self-efficacy, negative cognitive errors, and hopelessness), and stressful events between 2 surveys 6 months apart. Depressive symptoms and hopelessness were higher, and self-efficacy and negative cognitive errors were lower in Hong Kong than in the United Stales. Cognitions were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms and predicted depressive symptoms 6 months later in both cultures. The "reverse" model was also supported with more variance predicted by depressive symptoms to later cognitions than from cognitions to depressive symptoms. There was some support for the hypothesis that self-efficacy is less salient in collective compared with individualistic cultures. These findings extend cognitive theories of depression to a non-Western culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms and close relationships during the transition to adulthood: Perspectives from dysphoric women, their best friends, and their romantic partners.

Late adolescent women's depressive symptoms and interpersonal functioning were assessed using reports from participants, their best friends, and their romantic partners. As predicted, the associations between relationship dysfunction and dysphoria were stronger in romantic relationships than in friendships. Unlike friends, romantic partners perceived dysphoric women as having poorer social skills. Romantic partners also reported providing less emotional support to dysphoric women, whereas friends reported providing more. Finally, romantic partners of dysphoric women had more Cluster A (odd-eccentric) personality disorder symptoms; these symptoms mediated the relation between women's depression and partners' nonsupportiveness. The findings suggest that dysphoric women may find themselves in emotionally nonsupportive romantic relationships because they have paired (through assortative pairing or mutual influence) with symptomatic partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-specific pathways between maternal depressive symptoms, family discord, and adolescent adjustment.

Relations among maternal depressive symptoms, family discord, and adolescent psychological adjustment were examined in a sample of 443 middle adolescents and their mothers. Histories of maternal depressive symptoms, gathered at 3 occasions with 6-month intervals, were related to subsequent adolescent reports of depressive symptoms, conduct problems, and academic difficulties for girls but not for boys. Mediational tests indicated that girls' greater vulnerability to family discord (e.g., marital discord, low family intimacy, parenting impairments) accounted for the impact of maternal depressive symptoms on their social and emotional adjustment. Analyses suggest that family discord is a strong mediator in the development of girls' conduct disturbances and a modest mediator of girls' depressive symptoms. Results are discussed within a framework that integrates interpersonal models of parental depressive symptoms with the gender intensification hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of a coping and communication-enhancing intervention and a supportive counseling intervention among women diagnosed with gynecological cancers.

The authors evaluated mechanisms of change for a coping and communication-enhancing intervention (CCI) and supportive counseling (SC). They proposed that the effects of CCI on depressive symptoms would be mediated by psychological processes targeted by CCI, namely increases in the following: positive reappraisal, acceptance, planful problem solving, attempts to understand emotional reactions to cancer, emotional expression, seeking of emotional and instrumental support, and self-esteem. The authors hypothesized that the effects of SC on depressive symptoms would be mediated by the processes encouraged by SC, in this case increases in the following: expression of emotions, attempts to understand emotional reactions to cancer, and self-esteem. Three hundred fifty-three women were randomized to a CCI, SC, or usual care control group and completed measures at preintervention and 3, 6, and 9 months later. The effects of CCI were fully mediated by positive reappraisal, problem solving, and self-esteem and partially mediated by emotional expression. The effects of SC were partially mediated by positive reappraisal. These findings provide support for hypothesized mediators for CCI. The authors were less able to identify mediators for SC. Future research might benefit from identifying SC mediators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tightly linked systems: Reciprocal relations between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal reports of adolescent externalizing behavior.

The frequently observed link between maternal depressive symptoms and heightened maternal reporting of adolescent externalizing behavior was examined from an integrative, systems perspective using a community sample of 180 adolescents, their mothers, fathers, and close peers, assessed twice over a 3-year period. Consistent with this perspective, the maternal depression–adolescent externalizing link was found to reflect not simply maternal reporting biases, but heightened maternal sensitivity to independently observable teen misbehavior as well as long-term, predictive links between maternal symptoms and teen behavior. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted relative increases over time in teen externalizing behavior. Child effects were also found, however, in which teen externalizing behavior predicted future relative increases in maternal depressive symptoms. Findings are interpreted as revealing a tightly linked behavioral-affective system in families with mothers experiencing depressive symptoms and teens engaged in externalizing behavior and further suggest that research on depressive symptoms in women with adolescent offspring should now consider offspring externalizing behaviors as a significant risk factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital functioning and depressive symptoms: Evidence for a stress generation model.

The present study applied C. L. Hammen's (1991) stress generation model to depressive symptoms in the context of marriage. The authors predicted that depressive symptoms would lead to increased marital stress, which would in turn lead to increased depressive symptoms. Social support processes were hypothesized to function as a mechanism by which dysphoric spouses generate stress. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 154 newlywed couples. Depressive symptoms, marital stress, support perceptions, and support behavior (assessed using observational procedures) were assessed initially and 1 year later. Results provided evidence of marital stress generation among wives, and social support processes functioned as a mechanism of stress generation for wives. Results highlight the cyclical course of dysphoria and stress among wives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional Intensity of Idiographic Sad Memories in Depression Predicts Symptom Levels 1 Year Later.

When cued with generic happy and sad words, depressed individuals have been found to articulate contextually impoverished memories of autobiographical events. Although this pattern predicts a worse symptomatic course of disorder in some depressed samples, longitudinal findings with the cue-word paradigm are inconsistent. To address the etiological significance of autobiographical memories outside the cue-word paradigm, the authors used an idiographic interview in which depressed participants generated memories of their happiest and saddest lifetime events. Each memory was coded for detail and emotional intensity. At a 1-year follow-up, participants' levels of depressive symptoms were reassessed. Lower emotional intensity of saddest memories predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms at follow-up. Several implications for understanding sadness and emotional disclosure in depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shame, guilt, and depressive symptoms: A meta-analytic review.

Recent theoretical and empirical work has facilitated the drawing of sharp conceptual distinctions between shame and guilt. A clear view of these distinctions has permitted development of a research literature aimed at evaluating the differential associations of shame and guilt with depressive symptoms. This study quantitatively summarized the magnitude of associations of shame and guilt with depressive symptoms. Two hundred forty-two effect sizes were obtained from 108 studies employing 22,411 participants. Shame showed significantly stronger associations with depressive symptoms (r = .43) than guilt (r = .28). However, the association of shame and depressive symptoms was statistically indistinguishable from the associations of 2 maladaptive variants of guilt and depressive symptoms (contextual-maladaptive guilt, involving exaggerated responsibility for uncontrollable events, r = .39; generalized guilt, involving “free-floating” guilt divorced from specific contexts, r = .42). Other factors also moderated the effects. External shame, which involves negative views of self as seen through the eyes of others, was associated with larger effect sizes (r = .56) than internal shame (r = .42), which involves negative views of self as seen through one's own eyes. Depressive symptom measures that invoked the term guilt yielded stronger associations between guilt and depressive symptoms (r = .33) than depressive symptom measures that did not (r = .21). Age, sex, and ethnicity (proportion of Whites to Asians) did not moderate the effects. Although these correlational data are ambiguous with respect to their causal interpretation, results suggest that shame should figure more prominently in understandings of the emotional underpinnings of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal adjustment capacities, coping, and subjective well-being: The sample case of caregiving for a family member with mental illness.

This study examined the associations between goal adjustment capacities, coping, and indicators of subjective well-being in 2 waves of data from individuals who provide care for a family member with mental illness. We hypothesized that goal adjustment capacities would predict higher levels of subjective well-being by facilitating coping with caregiving stress. Results showed that goal disengagement was associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., less self-blame and substance use). Goal reengagement was also associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., positive reframing), but at the same time it predicted the use of less effective strategies (e.g., venting and self-distraction). Moreover, goal disengagement predicted lower levels of caregiver burden and depressive symptoms and buffered the longitudinal effect of caregiver burden on increases in depressive symptoms. Goal reengagement, by contrast, predicted higher levels of caregiver burden and purpose in life and buffered the cross-sectional association between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms. Finally, effective (and less useful) care-specific coping statistically explained the adaptive (and maladaptive) effects of goal adjustment capacities on participants' well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A naturalistic observation study of the links between parental depressive symptoms and preschoolers' behaviors in everyday life.

Previous research has shown that parental depressive symptoms are linked to a number of negative child outcomes. However, the associations between parental depressive symptoms and actual child behaviors in everyday life remain largely unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate the links between parental depressive symptoms and everyday child behaviors and emotional language use using a novel observational methodology, and to explore the potential moderating role of parent–child conflict. We tracked the behaviors and language use of 35 preschool-aged children for two 1-day periods separated by one year using a child version of the Electronically Activated Recorder, a digital voice recorder that records ambient sounds while participants go about their daily lives. Parental depressive symptoms were positively associated with multiple problem behaviors among children (i.e., crying, acting mad, watching TV) when measured both concurrently and prospectively, and with negative emotion word use prospectively. Further, the links between parental depressive symptoms and child crying were moderated by parents' perceptions of parent–child conflict. This study offers the first empirical evidence of direct links between parental depressive symptoms and child behaviors in daily life and presents a promising research tool for the study of everyday child behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of paternal and maternal depressive symptoms on child internalizing symptoms and asthma disease activity: Mediation by interparental negativity and parenting.

This study tested a hypothesized model of the relationships among parental depressive symptoms, family process (interparental negativity and negative parenting behavior), child internalizing symptoms, and asthma disease activity. A total of 106 children with asthma, aged 7 to 17, participated with their fathers and mothers. Parental depressive symptoms were assessed by self-report. Interparental and parenting behaviors were observed and rated during family discussion tasks. Child internalizing symptoms were assessed by self-report and by clinician interview and rating. Asthma disease activity was assessed according to National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute guidelines. Results of structural equation modeling generally supported interparental negativity and negative parenting behavior as mediators linking parental depressive symptoms and child emotional and physical dysfunction. However, paternal and maternal depressive symptoms play their role through different pathways of negative family process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)