Observed maternal responses to adolescent behaviour predict the onset of major depression

Developmental trajectories of adolescent internalizing symptoms and parental responses to distress

Parents' responses to their children's negative emotions are a central aspect of emotion socialization that have well-established associations with the development of psychopathology. Yet research is lacking on potential bidirectional associations between parental responses and youth symptoms that may unfold over time. Further, additional research is needed on sociocultural factors that may be related to the trajectories of these constructs. In this study, we examined associations between trajectories of parental responses to negative emotions and adolescent internalizing symptoms and the potential role of youth sex and racial identity. Adolescents and caregivers (N = 256) completed six assessments that spanned adolescent ages 13-18 years. Multivariate growth models revealed that adolescents with higher internalizing symptoms at baseline experienced increasingly non-supportive parental responses over time (punitive and distress responses). By contrast, parental responses did not predict initial levels of or changes in internalizing symptoms. Parents of Black youth reported higher minimization and emotion-focused responses and lower distress responses compared to parents of White youth. We found minimal evidence for sex differences in parental responses. Internalizing symptoms in early adolescence had enduring effects on parental responses to distress, suggesting that adolescents may play an active role in shaping their emotion socialization developmental context.

Current maternal depression associated with worsened children's social outcomes during middle childhood: Exploring the role of positive affect socialization

BACKGROUND

Maternal depression negatively predicts aspects of the mother-child relationship and social functioning in offspring. This study evaluated interrelations between mothers' depression history and current severity with dynamic indices of positive affect socialization and indices of offspring' social outcomes.

METHODS

N = 66 mother-child dyads in which approximately 50 % of mothers had a history of maternal depression were recruited. Children were 6-8 years old and 47.7 % male. Dyads completed a positive interaction task, which was coded for mother and child positive affect. Mothers and children reported on peer functioning and social problems and children reported on the quality of their best friendships at 1-year follow-up.

RESULTS

Current level of maternal depression, but not depression history, was related to more social problems and lower best friend relationship quality. Indices of positive affect socialization were not related to history or current levels of maternal depression, or social outcomes, with the exception of maternal depression history predicting greater likelihood of mothers joining their children in expressing positive affect. Exploratory, supplementary analysis revealed that this may be due to treatment history among these mothers.

LIMITATIONS

Conclusions should be tempered by the small sample size, which limited the types of analyses that were conducted.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that the effect of maternal depression on aspects of child social outcomes could be specific to current levels. Our data also did not support previously found associations between maternal depression and positive affect socialization. Results suggest positive implications for the effect of treatment for maternal depression for mother-child dynamics.

Reciprocal associations between parental depression and child cognition: Pathways to children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms

Parental depression is a risk factor for children's cognitive and psychological development. Literature has found reciprocal relations between parental depression and child psychopathology and effects of parental depression on children's cognition. The present study is the first to examine reciprocity among parental depression and child cognition, and pathways to child psychopathology. Structural equation models were conducted using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a nationally representative sample of 3,001 economically marginalized families. Measures were collected in four waves from 14 months to 10-11 years. Reciprocal associations emerged between maternal and paternal depression at from 14 months to 5 years. Reciprocal parental depression was associated with greater psychopathology at age 10-11. Maternal depression predicted poorer child cognition, which indirectly predicted increased depression in mothers of children aged 3-5 through paternal depression, and in fathers at age 3, through earlier paternal depression. This study was unable to parse within- and between-person effects. Additionally, data for paternal depression was limited to ages 2 and 3. Findings emphasize the transactional nature of child cognition and child and parent psychopathology, supporting family focused intervention and prevention efforts that target parent psychopathology and child cognition.

Adolescent emotion regulation trajectories: The influence of parent and friend emotion socialization

With mounting evidence demonstrating the link between child emotion regulation (ER) and emotion socialization, we conducted a longitudinal study to understand (a) emotion-specific trajectories of adolescent ER and (b) how specific parent and friend emotion socialization strategies impact ER over 4 years. Participants were 209 adolescents (52.5% girls; Mage  = 12.66 years; 75.7% White) and their parents. Latent growth curve models identified unique trajectories for anger and sadness/worry regulation. Anger regulation increased across time, whereas sadness/worry regulation remained highly stable longitudinally, lacking variance for growth modeling. Friend emotion socialization emerged as a more salient predictor of anger regulation than parent emotion socialization. Friend reward, override, and punish responses predicted initial levels. Friend punish and parent magnify responses predicted the slope.

Parent-adolescent emotion-related behavior during conflict in a clinical sample

INTRODUCTION

Parents and adolescents often have conflict. Previous research has been inconsistent regarding the association between some parent behaviors during this conflict and adolescent symptoms. This study examines parents' behaviors during a conflict resolution discussion in a clinical sample, and the relationship between parents' behaviors and adolescents' depression and anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

Depression and anxiety symptoms were self-reported by 22 adolescents of ages 13-17 who were diagnosed with depression. They also participated in an observed conflict resolution task with one parent. Using observationally coded data, we utilized two linear multiple regressions to assess how parent and adolescent emotion-related behaviors related to adolescents' depression and anxiety symptoms.

RESULTS

Adolescents' conflict behaviors were not associated with their psychopathology symptoms. Parent conflict behaviors of support and withdrawal were both negatively associated with adolescent depression and anxiety, with parent contempt marginally associated with adolescent depression.

CONCLUSIONS

In this clinical sample, parents of adolescents with low mood or anxiety demonstrated some reduced negative parenting behaviors (i.e., contempt and withdrawal), but also reduced positive parenting behavior (i.e., support). The results suggest that when some negative parenting behaviors are reduced, this may inadvertently reinforce depressive behaviors. The results also indicate the importance of increasing supportive parent behaviors.

Transactional patterns of depressive symptoms between mothers and adolescents: The role of emotion regulation

BACKGROUND

Depression is a highly prevalent, debilitating disorder that runs in families. Yet, empirical support for bidirectional mechanisms linking mother-adolescent depression symptoms remains limited. This study examined longitudinal bidirectional relations among emotion regulation (ER) constructs and depressive symptoms among mother-adolescent dyads over time. Pathways for girls and boys were explored separately, given extant research on sex differences in the intergenerational transmission of depression.

METHODS

Adolescent (n = 232; M = 15.02 years, SD = 0.95; 44% female)-mother dyads, drawn from a longitudinal study on the development of risky behaviors, completed annual assessments of depressive symptoms and facets of ER over 4 years. Panel modeling examined lagged and cross-lagged effects of mother-adolescent depressive symptoms and ER constructs over time, in a multigroup model of boys and girls.

RESULTS

Among girls, higher baseline maternal depression scores predicted increased adolescent ER difficulties (std. est. = -.42, p < .001) in turn, predicting increased adolescent depressive symptoms (std. est. = -.33, p = .002) and subsequent maternal ER difficulties (std. est. = .39, p = .002). The indirect effect of maternal depressive symptoms→adolescent ER→adolescent depressive symptoms→maternal ER was significant (ind. eff. = .10, 95% confidence interval [>.001, .19]) for girls, but not boys.

CONCLUSION

Implications for interrupting intergenerational cycles of depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation are discussed.

Depression Moderates Maternal Response to Preschoolers' Positive Affect

Maternal depression is associated with disrupted responsiveness during mother-infant dyadic interactions. Less research has evaluated whether responsivity between mother and offspring is altered in interactions during the preschool years, a period of vast socio-emotional development. In the current study, 72 mothers and preschoolers engaged in a positive emotion-eliciting task, in which they drew and talked about a recent fun experience, and independent coders separately rated mother and child emotion in 10-second intervals. Lagged multilevel models demonstrated that for dyads with currently depressed mothers, but not for healthy mothers or mothers with a past history of depression, greater child positive affect was associated with lower frequency and intensity of mother positive affect 10 seconds later. The effect of mother positive affect on child response was not significant. Findings suggest that the ability to acknowledge, imitate, and elaborate children's positive emotion during early childhood is altered in the context of depression, but that this altered responsiveness may improve with recovery from depression.

Parenting × Brain Development interactions as predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms and well-being: Differential susceptibility or diathesis-stress?

It is unclear how individual differences in parenting and brain development interact to influence adolescent mental health outcomes. This study examined interactions between structural brain development and observed maternal parenting behavior in the prediction of adolescent depressive symptoms and psychological well-being. Whether findings supported diathesis-stress or differential susceptibility frameworks was tested. Participants completed observed interactions with their mothers during early adolescence (age 13), and the frequency of positive and aggressive maternal behavior were coded. Adolescents also completed structural magnetic resonance imaging scans at three time points: mean ages 13, 17, and 19. Regression models analyzed interactions between maternal behavior and longitudinal brain development in the prediction of late adolescent (age 19) outcomes. Indices designed to distinguish between diathesis-stress and differential susceptibility effects were employed. Results supported differential susceptibility: less thinning of frontal regions was associated with higher well-being in the context of low levels of aggressive maternal behavior, and lower well-being in the context of high levels of aggressive maternal behavior. Findings suggest that reduced frontal cortical thinning during adolescence may underlie increased sensitivity to maternal aggressive behavior for better and worse and highlight the importance of investigating biological vulnerability versus susceptibility.

Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems

Research on the role of parent-adolescent relationships in psychosocial adjustment needs a conceptual approach that specifies the processes by which development is nested in the relationship. I forward a new approach and emphasize the need to consider the unique elements that individuals bring to the dyadic system. I also emphasize the need to examine processes at multiple time scales. I highlight the complexity of dyadic system dynamics: Biological predispositions set the foundation for the parent-adolescent relationship and the emotion dynamics that emerge during interactions. As the system gets entrained through repeated interactions over longer time scales, real-time dynamics coalesce into psychosocial adjustment, which in turn constrains real-time dynamics. I review the evidence for each of these processes and discuss the implications.

Observing Change Over Time in Strength-Based Parenting and Subjective Wellbeing for Pre-teens and Teens

The focus of this study was on adolescent mental health. More specifically, the relationship between strength-based parenting (SBP) and subjective wellbeing (SWB) during adolescence was examined at three time points over 14 months (N = 202, M age = 12.97, SD age = 0.91, 48% female). SBP was positively related to life satisfaction and positive affect at each of the three time points, and was negatively related to negative affect. SBP and SWB both declined significantly over time. When examining the causal relationships between SBP and SWB, two different statistical models were applied: latent growth-curve models (LGM) and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM). The LGM revealed a strong positive relationship between changes in SBP and SWB. Specifically, this model showed that SBP at one time point predicted adolescent SWB at future time points. However, when the more stringent statistical test was completed through RI-CLPMs, no cross-lagged paths reached significance. Thus, while parenting is a significant predictor of wellbeing for pre-teens and teens in real time, it is not predictive of wellbeing at future time points. Parents, thus, cannot assume that their current levels of SBP are 'banked' by their children to support future wellbeing. Instead, SBP needs to be an ongoing, contemporary parenting practice. Furthermore, the fact that perceptions of SBP decline in this age bracket suggest that SBP interventions may be helpful in supporting adolescent mental health.

Positive affect between close friends: Brain-behavior associations during adolescence

Identifying the neural correlates of positive interactions between friendship dyads may provide insights into mechanisms associated with adolescent social development. Forty-eight 14- to 18-year-old typically developing adolescents were video-recorded discussing a shared positive event with a close friend and subsequently viewed clips during an fMRI scan of that friend during the interaction and of an unfamiliar peer in a similar interaction. Adolescents also reported on their positive affect in daily life while with friends using ecological momentary assessment. We used multivariate repeated measures models to evaluate how positive affect with friends in the laboratory and in daily life was associated with neural response to friend and stranger positive and neutral clips. Adolescents who exhibited more positive affect when with friends in the laboratory showed less dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to friend positive clips. More positive affect when with friends in daily life was associated with less bilateral anterior insula response to friend positive clips, but greater left anterior insula response to stranger positive clips. Findings provide information on the role of lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula in enjoyment of friendships during adolescence.

Effect of Parenting and Peer Stressors on Cognitive Vulnerability and Risk for Depression among Youth

Parenting behaviors influence clinical depression among youth, but little is known about the developmental processes that may account for this association. This study investigated whether parenting is associated with the onset of clinical depression and depressive symptoms through negative cognitive style, particularly under conditions of high exposure to stressors, in a community sample of children and adolescents (N = 275; 59% girls). Observational methods were used to assess positive and negative parenting during a laboratory social-evaluative stressor task. Depressive symptoms and clinical depressive episodes were repeatedly assessed over an 18-month prospective follow-up period. Results supported a conditional indirect effect in which low levels of observed positive parenting during a youth stressor task were indirectly associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing an episode of depression and worsening depressive symptoms over the course of the study through youth negative cognitive style, but only for youth who also experienced a high number of peer stressors. These findings elucidate mechanisms through which problematic parenting may contribute to risk for the development of clinical depression during the transition into and across adolescence. Implications for depression interventions are discussed.

Study protocol: families and childhood transitions study (FACTS) - a longitudinal investigation of the role of the family environment in brain development and risk for mental health disorders in community based children

Background

Extant research has demonstrated that parenting behaviour can be a significant contributor to the development of brain structure and mental health during adolescence. Nonetheless, there is limited research examining these relationships during late childhood, and particularly in the critical period of brain development occurring between 8 and 10 years of age. The effects of the family environment on the brain during late childhood may have significant implications for later functioning, and particularly mental health. The Families and Childhood Transitions Study (FACTS) is a multidisciplinary longitudinal cohort study of brain development and mental health, with two waves of data collection currently funded, occurring 18-months apart, when child participants are aged approximately 8- and 10-years old.

Methods/design

Participants are 163 children (M age [SD] = 8.44 [0.34] years, 76 males) and their mothers (M age [SD] = 40.34 [5.43] years). Of the 163 families who consented to participate, 156 completed a video-recorded and observer-coded dyadic interaction task and 153 completed a child magnetic resonance imaging brain scan at baseline. Families were recruited from lower socioeconomic status (SES) areas to maximise rates of social disadvantage and variation in parenting behaviours. All experimental measures and tasks completed at baseline are repeated at an 18-month follow-up, excluding the observer coded family interaction tasks. The baseline assessment was completed in October 2015, and the 18-month follow up will be completed May 2017.

Discussion

This study, by examining the neurobiological and mental health consequences of variations in parenting, has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of child development and risk processes. Recruitment of lower SES families will also allow assessment of resilience factors given the poorer outcomes often associated with this population.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-017-0905-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Change in depression across adolescence: The role of early anger socialization and child anger

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the relations of early socialization of anger with change in adolescent depression, and moderation by child anger. Using a sample of low-income, ethnic minority children at familial risk for psychopathology in the United States (n = 92; ages 3-5; 53% female; 65% African American; 27% Latina/o), early anger socialization (i.e., parent response to child anger) was tested as a predictor of change in depression from preadolescence to adolescence [i.e., age 8 (n = 63), 11 (n = 58), and 13 (n = 44)]. A videotaped parent-child interaction was coded for parental socialization of preschooler anger, and psychiatric interviews of depression were conducted three times across preadolescence and adolescence. Major depression diagnoses increased from preadolescence to adolescence. Latent growth modeling indicated parent discouragement of child anger was a significant predictor of an increase in the child's later depression from preadolescence to adolescence, and child anger intensity was a significant moderator.

Emotion socialization in the context of risk and psychopathology: Mother and father socialization of anger and sadness in adolescents with depressive disorder

This study examined parental emotion socialization processes associated with adolescent unipolar depressive disorder. Adolescent participants (N=107; 42 boys) were selected either to meet criteria for current unipolar depressive disorder or to be psychologically healthy as defined by no lifetime history of psychopathology or mental health treatment and low levels of current depressive symptomatology. A multisource/method measurement strategy was used to assess mothers' and fathers' responses to adolescent sad and angry emotion. Each parent and the adolescents completed questionnaire measures of parental emotion socialization behavior, and participated in meta-emotion interviews and parent-adolescent interactions. As hypothesized, parents of adolescents with depressive disorder engaged in fewer supportive responses and more unsupportive responses overall relative to parents of nondepressed adolescents. Between group differences were more pronounced for families of boys, and for fathers relative to mothers. The findings indicate that parent emotion socialization is associated with adolescent depression and highlight the importance of including fathers in studies of emotion socialization, especially as it relates to depression.

Regulating sadness and fear from outside and within: mothers' emotion socialization and adolescents' parasympathetic regulation predict the development of internalizing difficulties

Multilevel models of developmental psychopathology implicate both characteristics of the individual and their rearing environment in the etiology of internalizing problems and disorders. Maladaptive regulation of fear and sadness, the core of anxiety and depression, arises from the conjoint influences of ineffective parasympathetic regulation of emotion and ineffective emotion socialization experiences. In 171 youths (84 female, M = 13.69 years, SD = 1.84), we measured changes of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in response to sadness- and fear-inducing film clips and maternal supportive and punitive responses to youths' internalizing emotions. Youths and mothers reported on youths' internalizing problems and anxiety and depression symptoms concurrently and 2 years later at Time 2. Maternal supportive emotion socialization predicted fewer, and punitive socialization predicted more, mother-reported internalizing problems at Time 2 only for youths who showed RSA suppression to fear-inducing films. More RSA suppression to sadness-inducing films predicted more youth-reported internalizing problems at Time 2 in girls only. In addition, less supportive emotion socialization predicted more youth-reported depression symptoms at Time 2 only for girls who showed more RSA suppression to sadness. RSA suppression to sadness versus fear might reflect different patterns of atypical parasympathetic regulation of emotional arousal, both of which increase the risk for internalizing difficulties in youths, and especially girls, who lack maternal support for regulating emotions.

Affective patterns in triadic family interactions: Associations with adolescent depression

Affective family processes are associated with the development of depression during adolescence. However, empirical description of these processes is generally based on examining affect at the individual or dyadic level. The purpose of this study was to examine triadic patterns of affect during parent-adolescent interactions in families with or without a depressed adolescent. We used state space grid analysis to characterize the state of all three actors simultaneously. Compared to healthy controls, triads with depressed adolescents displayed a wider range of affect, demonstrated less predictability of triadic affective sequences, spent more time in and returned more quickly to discrepant affective states, and spent less time in and returned more slowly to matched affective states, particularly while engaged in a problem-solving interaction. Furthermore, we identified seven unique triadic states in which triads with depressed adolescents spent significantly more time than triads with healthy controls. The present study enhances understanding of family affective processes related to depression by taking a more systemic approach and revealing triadic patterns that go beyond individual and dyadic analyses.

Dual-axis hormonal covariation in adolescence and the moderating influence of prior trauma and aversive maternal parenting

Adversity early in life can disrupt the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes and increase risk for negative health outcomes. The interplay between these axes and the environment is complex, and understanding needs to be advanced by the investigation of the multiple hormonal relationships underlying these processes. The current study examined basal hormonal associations between morning levels of cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone in a cohort of adolescents (mean age 15.56 years). The moderating influence of childhood adversity was also examined, as indexed by self-reported trauma (at mean age 14.91), and observed maternal aggressive parenting (at mean age 12.41). Between-person regressions revealed significant associations between hormones that were moderated by both measures of adversity. In females, all hormones positively covaried, but also interacted with adversity, such that positive covariation was typically only present when levels of trauma and/or aggressive parenting were low. In males, hormonal associations and interactions were less evident; however, interactions were detected for cortisol-testosterone - positively covarying at high levels of aggressive parenting but negatively covarying at low levels - and DHEA-cortisol - similarly positively covarying at high levels of parental aggression. These results demonstrate associations between adrenal and gonadal hormones and the moderating role of adversity, which is likely driven by feedback mechanisms, or cross-talk, between the axes. These findings suggest that hormonal changes may be the pathway through which early life adversity alters physiology and increases health risks, but does so differentially in the sexes; however further study is necessary to establish causation.

Early life stress alters pituitary growth during adolescence-a longitudinal study

The pituitary gland is integral in mediating the stress-response via its role in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. Pituitary gland volume (PGV) is altered in stress-related psychopathology, and one study to date has shown stress to be associated with age-related PGV change during adolescence. The current study investigated the effects of a number of different types of early life (i.e., childhood and adolescent) stress (including childhood maltreatment, stressful life events, and maternal affective behavior) on PGV development from mid- to late adolescence using a longitudinal design. The influence of PGV development on depressive and anxiety symptoms was also investigated. Ninety one (49 male) adolescents took part in mother-child dyadic interaction tasks when they were approximately 12 years old, reported on childhood maltreatment and stressful life events when they were approximately 15 years old, and underwent two waves of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, when they were approximately 16 and 19 years old. Results revealed that childhood maltreatment predicted accelerated PGV development in females, and maternal dysphoric behavior predicted accelerated PGV development in the whole sample. PGV development was not associated with depressive or anxiety symptoms. These results suggest an effect of early life stress on altered HPA axis function across mid- to late adolescence. Further research is required to assess functional implications and whether these changes might be associated with risk for subsequent psychopathology.

Maternal Depression, Parenting, and Youth Depressive Symptoms: Mediation and Moderation in a Short-Term Longitudinal Study

Although multiple studies find that offspring of depressed mothers are at risk for depressive disorders, there is uncertainty about the specific mechanisms that are at work--particularly with respect to modifiable factors that might be targeted for early intervention. The present work examines that parenting behaviors may operate as mediators, moderators, or independent influences on the development of youth depressive symptoms. One hundred one mothers and their early adolescent children participated in positive and negative interaction tasks. Maternal and youth self-reports of youth depressive symptoms were collected at baseline, 9-month, and 18-month assessments. Maternal history of depression was significantly associated with maternal-reported, but not youth self-reported, depressive symptomatology. Maternal positive and negative interaction behaviors in positive contexts were associated with higher youth self-reported depressive symptoms. Maternal positive interaction behaviors in positive contexts and maternal negative interactive behaviors in conflict contexts were associated with higher youth self-reported depressive symptoms. We found no evidence for maternal interaction behaviors serving as a mediator and little evidence of maternal interaction behaviors serving as a moderator of the relationship between maternal and offspring depression. Low maternal positive engagement tended to be more consistently associated with maternal- and self-reported youth depressive symptoms. The present findings suggest that characteristics of mother-child interactions that are associated with youth depressive symptomatology are pertinent to youth with and without a mother with a history of depression.

Associations between maternal negative affect and adolescent's neural response to peer evaluation

Parenting is often implicated as a potential source of individual differences in youths' emotional information processing. The present study examined whether parental affect is related to an important aspect of adolescent emotional development, response to peer evaluation. Specifically, we examined relations between maternal negative affect, observed during parent-adolescent discussion of an adolescent-nominated concern with which s/he wants parental support, and adolescent neural responses to peer evaluation in 40 emotionally healthy and depressed adolescents. We focused on a network of ventral brain regions involved in affective processing of social information: the amygdala, anterior insula, nucleus accumbens, and subgenual anterior cingulate, as well as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Maternal negative affect was not associated with adolescent neural response to peer rejection. However, longer durations of maternal negative affect were associated with decreased responsivity to peer acceptance in the amygdala, left anterior insula, subgenual anterior cingulate, and left nucleus accumbens. These findings provide some of the first evidence that maternal negative affect is associated with adolescents' neural processing of social rewards. Findings also suggest that maternal negative affect could contribute to alterations in affective processing, specifically, dampening the saliency and/or reward of peer interactions during adolescence.

Attachment to parents and peers as a risk factor for adolescent depressive disorders: the mediating role of emotion regulation

This study examined emotion regulation as a mediator in the relationship of attachment and depression in adolescents. Participants (N girls = 127; M age = 14.50; N boys = 121; M age = 14.31) completed self-report questionnaires of attachment to parents and peers, emotion regulation and depression. Models with dysfunctional emotion regulation as a mediation variable were tested via hierarchical multiple regression analyses and bootstrapping procedure. Results revealed significant relations between attachment to parents and peers, dysfunctional emotion regulation and depression. For girls, internal-dysfunctional emotion regulation was a mediator in the relation of attachment to parents and depression and partly mediated the association of attachment to peers. For boys, internal- and external-dysfunctional emotion regulation acted as partly mediators in association of attachment to parents and depression. Results indicate important mechanisms that contribute to the refinement of conceptual models and provide indications for gender specific prevention and intervention for depressive disorders.

Affective functioning among early adolescents at high and low familial risk for depression and their mothers: a focus on individual and transactional processes across contexts

This study aimed to characterize affective functioning in families of youth at high familial risk for depression, with particular attention to features of affective functioning that appear to be critical to adaptive functioning but have been underrepresented in prior research including: positive and negative affect across multiple contexts, individual and transactional processes, and affective flexibility. Interactions among early adolescents (ages 9-14) and their mothers were coded for affective behaviors across both positive and negative contexts. Primary analyses compared never-depressed youth at high (n = 44) and low (n = 57) familial risk for depression. The high risk group showed a relatively consistent pattern for low positive affect across negative and positive contexts at both the individual and transactional level. In contrast to prior studies focusing on negative contexts that did not support disruptions in negative affect among high risk youth, the data from this study suggest variability by context (i.e. increased negativity in a positive, but not negative, context), and individual vs. transactional processes (e.g., negative escalation). Findings are discussed in concert with attention to affect flexibility, contextual and transactional factors.