Longitudinal Study of Life Events, Well-Being, Emotional Regulation and Depressive Symptomatology

A machine-learning approach to model risk and protective factors of vulnerability to depression

There are multiple risk and protective factors for depression. The association between these factors with vulnerability to depression is unclear. Such knowledge is an important insight into assessing risk for developing depression for precision interventions. Based on the behavioral data of 496 participants (all unmarried and not cohabiting, with a college education level or above), we applied machine-learning approaches to model risk and protective factors in estimating depression and its symptoms. Then, we employed Random Forest to identify important factors which were then used to differentiate participants who had high risk of depression from those who had low risk. Results revealed that risk and protective factors could significantly estimate depression and depressive symptoms. Feature selection revealed four key factors including three risk factors (brooding, perceived loneliness, and perceived stress) and one protective factor (resilience). The classification model built by the four factors achieved an ROC-AUC score of 75.50% to classify the high- and low-risk groups, which was comparable to the classification performance based on all risk and protective factors (ROC-AUC = 77.83%). Based on the selected four factors, we generated a mood vulnerability index useful for identifying people's risk for depression. Our findings provide potential clinical insights for developing quick screening tools for mood disorders and potential targets for intervention programs designed to improve depressive symptoms.

Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents: joint trajectories and predictors

Objective

Internet addiction and depressive symptoms are common mental health problems in adolescents. Due to the comorbidity of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms, their mutual relationship influences their developmental trajectories over time. Thus, this study aimed to identify the joint trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms, and examined the individual, family, and school antecedents of these trajectories among Chinese adolescents.

Methods

Using a battery of self-report scales, three waves of data collection were conducted in a Chinese adolescent sample (N = 1,301). The co-developmental trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms were extracted by adopting parallel-process latent class growth modeling (PPLCGM). Multinomial logistic regression was performed to assess predictive factors.

Results

Four unique joint trajectory classes were detected: the Health Group (n = 912, 70.1%), Comorbidity-Worsening Group (n = 85, 6.5%), Asymptomatic-Comorbid Risk Group (n = 148, 11.4%), and Prominent Depressive Symptoms-Remission Group (n = 156, 12.0%). Individual, family, and school factors (e.g., gender, positive youth development, family function, academic performance) significantly predicted the membership in these distinct co-developmental trajectories.

Conclusion

Our findings illustrate that the joint development of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms among adolescents presents a heterogeneous distribution, which could better inform prevention and intervention strategies since each co-developmental trajectory may represent unique experience for adolescents who need targeted treatment. Various individual, family, and school factors are important predictors that play different roles in distinguishing the joint trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms during this critical developmental transition period.

Effects of negative life events on depression in middle school students: The chain-mediating roles of rumination and perceived social support

Background

Negative life events in middle school students have a significant impact on depression. However, the mechanism of this association is not fully understood. This study used rumination and perceived social support as mediating variables to explore the influence of negative life events on depression.

Materials and methods

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing, a convenient sampling method was adopted to collect information about middle school students in Shandong Province by means of online questionnaire. Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List, Ruminative Responses Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale and Children’s Depression Inventory were used. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were conducted for four variables of middle school students, including life events, depression, rumination thinking and perceived social support, and the chain mediated effect was tested by using process plug-in. All statistically analysis was conducted by SPSS 23.0.

Results

493 middle school students (16.7000 ± 0.9500 years) including 343 female students (69.6000%) from Shandong Province recruited. Results showed that the total effect between life events and depression was significant (effect = 0.2535, 95%CI: 0.2146, 0.2924). The total indirect effect was significant (effect = 0.1700, 95%CI: 0.1349, 0.2072). The indirect effect was significant (effect = 0.0988, 95%CI: 0.0741, 0.1252) with rumination as the mediating variable. The indirect effect of pathway with perceived social support as the mediating variable was significant (effect = 0.0476, 95%CI: 0.0295, 0.0674). The indirect effect of pathway with rumination and perceived social support as mediating variables was also significant (effect = 0.0236, 95%CI: 0.0147, 0.0339).

Conclusion

This study indicated that ruminant thinking and perceived social support had a significant chain mediating effect on adolescents’ life events and depression. Life events can not only directly affect depressive emotions, but also indirectly affect depressive emotions by affecting ruminant thinking and perceived social support. The results of this study not only provide new directions for the relationship between life events and depression, but also provide possible approaches for future prevention and intervention of depression in middle school students.

Stuck on the Train of Ruminative Thoughts: The Effect of Aggressive Fantasy on Subjective Well-Being

Previous studies have focused almost exclusively on identifying the antecedents of aggression and violence; as such, there are virtually no experimental data about the psychological consequences of fantasizing aggressive and violent actions. The present experiment aimed to fill this significant informational void in the literature by testing whether aggressive fantasy would influence people's rumination tendency and subjective well-being. We hypothesized that aggressive fantasy would make people more likely to ruminate, which would thereby lower their subjective well-being. To test this prediction, we recruited a sample of participants, who were adults in the United States (overall valid N = 113; 39 men; mean age = 36.27, SD = 11.27), and they were randomly assigned to either the aggressive fantasy condition or the control condition. At the beginning of the experiment, participants were asked to think of a person they despised and describe the characteristics of the despised person. Next, participants in the aggressive fantasy condition fantasized aggressive and violent actions toward the despised target, while participants in the control condition fantasized a control experience. Finally, their state rumination and subjective well-being were assessed. The results showed that, relative to participants who did not fantasize aggression, those who engaged in aggressive fantasy reported higher levels of rumination and lower levels of subjective well-being. Further analysis showed that enhanced rumination significantly mediated the effect of aggressive fantasy on subjective well-being. The present findings contribute to the literature by providing new insights into the psychological consequences of aggressive and violent responses and the underlying mechanism.

Strengths Against Psychopathology in Adolescents: Ratifying the Robust Buffer Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence

The aim of this study was to unravel the interrelated effects of trait emotional intelligence (Trait EI), mindfulness, and irrational beliefs on adolescent mental health. A random sample of students from three secondary schools in Spain and eight secondary schools in Portugal was recruited. We conducted four-step hierarchical regression analyses. We also conducted regression analyses to examine the role of mindfulness skills and catastrophizing as mediators of the link between emotional intelligence and psychosocial problems. Finally, the SPSS PROCESS computing tool was used to perform conditional process analysis (model 6). A total of 1370 adolescents from Spain (n = 591) and Portugal (n = 779) participated in this study (mean age = 14.97, SD = 1.50; range = 12-18). The mediation analyses confirmed that adolescent mental health was determined by Trait EI directly, and by mindfulness skills and catastrophizing thoughts in an indirect way. Together, the four variables explained 44% of psychopathology, with EI being the most powerful predictor, which ratify the robust buffer role and incremental validity of Trait EI against youth mental health. The identified pathways provide keys for emotional education interventions aimed at promoting adolescent mental health.

Attentional Disengagement Deficits Predict Brooding, but Not Reflection, Over a One-Year Period

A growing literature suggests that rumination is linked to attentional disengagement deficits in depression. This is particularly the case with brooding, a maladaptive form of rumination. However, research on the potential constructive association between attentional disengagement and self-reflection, a putative adaptive form of rumination, is sparse. Thus, the goal of the present study was to examine whether visual attentional disengagement deficits differentially predict dispositional brooding and self-reflection tendencies. Depressed participants (n = 17), those in remission from depression (n = 42), and their peers with no depression histories (n = 70) completed clinical interviews, the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and an eye-tracking task that measured attentional disengagement from pleasant (happy) and unpleasant (sad) facial images during a laboratory visit, and the RRS at 4 month intervals over a 1-year period. Results revealed that slow disengagement from sad faces, and rapid disengagement from happy faces, was specifically associated with brooding tendencies concurrently and across follow-up. Attentional disengagement was unrelated to self-reflection. The disengagement-brooding associations remained after controlling for depression status and anxiety disorder histories, suggesting that attentional control deficits may be a state-independent marker of brooding. Theoretical and clinical implications for these associations are discussed.