Skip to main content

Early Maladaptive Schemas as Moderators of the Impact of Stressful Events on Anxiety and Depression in University Students

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment volume 34, pages 58–68 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the effects of early maladaptive schemas (EMS) derived from the Schema Therapy model (Young 1999) according to the diathesis-stress paradigm. We expected that EMS would make students more vulnerable to symptoms of depression and anxiety in the presence of stressful events and that the effects of these schemas would be different for each symptom. In particular, it was hypothesised that abandonment, emotional deprivation, defectiveness, and failure schemas would interact with stressful events to predict depressive symptoms, whereas abandonment, vulnerability to harm, and dependence schemas were expected to moderate anxiety symptoms. Due to gender differences in EMS and depressive and anxiety symptoms, we also expected that sex would act as a moderator of the relationships between EMS and symptoms. A two-wave prospective study showed that the presence of EMS constitutes a vulnerability factor for both, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and this effect was also moderated by sex. Moreover, the EMS’s content specificity revealed which schemas were more relevant to each symptom, providing valuable information for prevention and intervention programmes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Abela, J. R. Z. & McGirr, A. (2007). Operationalizing cognitive vulnerability and stress from the perspective of the hopelessness theory: A multi-wave longitudinal study of children of affectively ill parents. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(4), 377–395

    Google Scholar 

  • Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: a theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allgöwer, A., Wardle, J., & Steptoe, A. (2001). Depressive symptoms, social support, and personal health behaviors in young men and women. Health Psychology, 20, 223–227.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. Oxford England: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Brown, G., Steer, R. A., Eidelson, J. T., & Riskind, J. H. (1987). Differentiating anxiety and depression: a test of the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 179–183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouteyre, E., Maurel, M., & Bernaud, J. (2007). Daily hassles and depressive symptoms among first year psychology students in France: the role of coping and social support. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 23, 93–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E. (2011a). Integrating sociotropy, negative inferences and social stressors as explanations for the development of depression in adolescence: interactive and mediational mechanisms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35(5), 477–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E. (2011b). Temporal relationships between inferential style and depressive symptoms in adolescents. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy.

  • Calvete, E., & Cardeñoso, O. (1999). Creencias y síntomas depresivos: resultados preliminares en el desarrollo de una escala de creencias irracionales abreviada. Anales De Psicología, 15, 179–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E., & Cardeñoso, O. (2005). Gender differences in cognitive vulnerability to depression and behavior problems in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33(2), 179–192.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E., & Connor-Smith, J. (2005). Automatic thoughts and psychological symptoms: a cross-cultural comparison of american and spanish students. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 201–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E., & Orue, I. (2011). Social information processing as a mediator between cognitive schemas and aggressive behavior in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Online Access.

  • Calvete, E., Estévez, A., López de Arroyabe, E., & Ruiz, P. (2005). The schema questionnaire-short form: structure and relationship with automatic thoughts and symptoms of affective disorders. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21, 90–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvete, E., Estévez, A., & Corral, S. (2007). Intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms in women: cognitive schemas as moderators and mediators. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 791–804.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, D. A., Beck, A. T., & Brown, G. (1989). Cognitive mediation in general psychiatric outpatients: a test of the content-specificity hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 958–964.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Davis, G. E., Forsythe, C. J., & Wagner, B. M. (1987). Assessment of major and daily stressful events during adolescence: the adolescent perceived events scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 534–541.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connor-Smith, J., & Calvete, E. (2004). Cross-cultural equivalence of coping and involuntary responses to stress in Spain and the United States. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal, 17, 163–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connor-Smith, J., & Compas, B. E. (2002). Vulnerability to social stress: coping as a mediator or moderator of sociotropy and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 39–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, S. E., & Madson, L. (1997). Models of the self: self-construals and gender. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 5–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R. (1983). The SCL-90-R administration, scoring and procedures manual. Towson: Clinical Psychometric Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R. (2002). SCL-90-R. Cuestionario de 90 ítems. Adaptación española de J. L. González de Rivera et al. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.

  • Dohrenwend, B. P. (2006). Inventorying stressful life events as risk factors for psychopathology: toward resolution of the problem of intracategory variability. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 477–495.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eberhart, N. K., Auerbach, R. P., Bigda-Peyton, J., & Abela, J. R. Z. (2011). Malatadaptive schemas and depression: test of stress generation and diathesis-stress models. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30(1), 75–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, P. A., Tix, A. P., & Barron, K. E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 115–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B. A., Campbell, L. F., Calhoun, G. B., Bates, J. M., & Petrocelli, J. V. (2002). The early maladaptive schema questionnaire-short form: a construct validity study. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 35, 2–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2001). Development of gender differences in depression: an elaborated cognitive vulnerability- transactional stress theory. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 773–796.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Miller, N., & Haeffel, G. J. (2004). Cognitive vulnerability-stress theories of depression: examining affective specificity in the prediction of depression versus anxiety in three prospective studies. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 28, 309–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Wetter, E. K., Cheely, C., & Oppenheimer, C. (2008). Beck’s cognitive theory of depression in adolescence: specific prediction of depressive symptoms and transactional influences in a multi-wave prospective study. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 1(4), 313–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. E., & Curtin, L. (2002). Parental perceptions, early maladaptive schemas, and depressive symptoms in young adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 405–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmbeck, G. (2002). Post-hoc probing of significant moderational and mediational effects in studies of pediatric populations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27, 87–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lumley, M. N., & Harkness, K. L. (2007). Specificity in the relations among childhood adversity, early maladaptive schemas, and symptom profiles in adolescent depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 639–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGinn, L. K., & Young, J. E. (1996). Schema-focused therapy. In P. M. Salkovskis (Ed.), Frontiers of cognitive therapy (pp. 182–207). New York: The Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinn, L. K., Cukor, D., & Sanderson, W. C. (2005). The relationship between parenting style, cognitive style, and anxiety and depression: does increased early adversity influence symptom severity through the mediating role of cognitive style? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 219–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mezulis, A. H., Funasaki, K. S., Charbonneau, A. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). Gender differences in the cognitive vulnerability-stress model of depression in the transition to adolescence. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34(6), 501–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oei, T. P. S., & Baranoff, J. (2007). Young schema questionnaire: review of psychometric and measurement issues. Australian Journal of Psychology, 59, 78–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Persons, J. B., & Miranda, J. (1992). Cognitive theories of vulnerability to depression: reconciling negative evidence. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 485–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrocelli, J. V., Glaser, B. A., Calhoun, G. B., & Campbell, L. F. (2001). Cognitive schemas as mediating variables of the relationship between the self-defeating personality and depression. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 183–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., & Aikins, J. W. (2004). Cognitive moderators of the longitudinal association between peer rejection and adolescent de- pressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 147–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riso, L. P., Froman, S. E., Raouf, M., Gable, P., Maddux, R. E., Turini-Santorelli, N., et al. (2006). The long-term stability of early maladaptive schemas. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30(4), 515–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadeh, N., Javdani, S., Fini, M. S., & Verona, E. (2011). Gender differences in emotional risk for self- and other-directed violence among externalizing adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(1), 106–117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, R. W. (2002). Revisiting the relationship among gender, marital status, and mental health. American Journal of Sociology, 107, 1065–1096.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, N. B., & Joiner, T. E., Jr. (2004). Global maladaptive schemas, negative life events, and psychological distress. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 65–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, N., Joiner, T., Young, J., & Telch, M. (1995). The schema questionnaire: investigation of psychometric properties and the hierarchical structure of a measure of maladaptive schemas. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 19, 295–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schniering, C. A., & Rapee, R. M. (2004). The relationship between automatic thoughts and negative emotions in children and adolescents: a test of the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 464–470.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, R., & Waller, G. (2000). Parental style and vulnerability to depression: the role of core beliefs. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 188, 19–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Ptacek, J. T. (1990). Conjunctive moderator variables in vulnerability and resiliency research: life stress, social support and coping skills, and adolescent sport injuries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 360–370.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stopa, L., Thorne, P., Waters, A., & Preston, J. (2001). Are the short and long forms of the young schema questionnaire comparable and how well does each version predict psychopathology scores? Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 15, 253–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verona, E., Reed, A., II, Curtin, J. J., & Pole, M. (2007). Gender differences in emotional and overt/covert aggressive responses to stress. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 261–271.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wade, T. J., Cairney, J., & Pevalin, D. J. (2002). Emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence: national panel results from three countries. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry, 41, 190–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wadsworth, M. E., Raviv, T., Compas, B. E., & Connor-Smith, J. (2005). Parent and adolescent responses to poverty-related stress: tests of mediated and moderated coping models. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14, 283–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welburn, K., Coristine, M., Dagg, P., Pontefract, A., & Jordan, S. (2002). The schema questionnaire-short form: factor analysis and relationship between schemas and symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 519–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. E. (1999). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders: A schema-focused approach (3rd ed.). Sarasota: Professional Resource Press/Professional Resource Exchange.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. E., & Brown, G. (1994). Young schemas questionnaire-S1. New York: Cognitive Therapy Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. E., & Klosko, J. S. (1994). Reinventing your life. New York: Plume.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner’s guide. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by a grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Innovación, Reference PSI2010-15714 (Spanish Government)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Deusto, Avda. Las Universidades, 24, 48007, Bilbao, Spain

    María Cámara & Esther Calvete

Authors
  1. María Cámara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Esther Calvete
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Cámara.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cámara, M., Calvete, E. Early Maladaptive Schemas as Moderators of the Impact of Stressful Events on Anxiety and Depression in University Students. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 34, 58–68 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-011-9261-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-011-9261-6

Keywords

  • Schemas
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Stressful events
  • University students