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Stress Generation in Adolescent Depression: The Moderating Role of Child Abuse and Neglect

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Abstract

The present study examined the role of childhood abuse and neglect and depression recurrence in moderating the generation of stressful life events in adolescent depression. Maltreatment history and stressful life events were assessed using two rigorous contextual interviews and rating systems. In a sample of 59 community depressed adolescents we found significantly higher rates of interpersonal events in the 3-month period immediately following depression episode onset versus the 3-month period immediately preceding onset in adolescents with a history of childhood maltreatment. By contrast, rates of events remained constant over a matched period in a control group of non-maltreated adolescents. Furthermore, the generation of interpersonal events only held among those on a first onset of depression. These results suggest that a history of childhood abuse and neglect exacerbates the psychosocial dysfunction associated with the onset of depression, particularly in the very first episode.

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Notes

  1. These 16 participants did not meet criteria for a depressive disorder, but did meet criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (n = 6), Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (n = 2), Conduct Disorder (n = 1), Social Phobia (n = 3), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (n = 3), and Simple Phobia (n = 1).

  2. One adolescent had a BDI score of zero. Despite the absence of self-reported symptoms of depression, she met criteria for a current episode of depression on the K-SADS interview and this diagnosis was confirmed by her referring clinician. Excluding this participant from analyses did not change the pattern of results.

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Acknowledgement

We wish to thank Uzma Rehman and Mark Sabbagh for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to the Child and Youth Wellness Centre of Leeds and Grenville, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston Military Family Resource Centre, and the Limestone District School Board for their collaboration in referring study participants. We also thank Angela Digout-Erhardt, Laura Johnson, and Jennifer Laforce for helping with the clinical interviews, Krista Bromley, Angela Collins, Jorden Cummings, Nina Rytwinski, Pamela Seeds, and Bernadette Zackher for rating the childhood adversity and life event interviews, and Michael Barnett-Cowan, Stephanie Cerutti, and Jonathan McGregor for scheduling participants and managing the database.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Kate L. Harkness

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Margaret N. Lumley

  3. Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Alanna E. Truss

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  1. Kate L. Harkness
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  2. Margaret N. Lumley
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  3. Alanna E. Truss
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Correspondence to Kate L. Harkness.

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This research was supported by a New Investigator Award from the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation.

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Harkness, K.L., Lumley, M.N. & Truss, A.E. Stress Generation in Adolescent Depression: The Moderating Role of Child Abuse and Neglect. J Abnorm Child Psychol 36, 421–432 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9188-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9188-2

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