Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Predictors of Stress Generation in Early Adolescence: Pathway to Depressive Symptoms

  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although individuals with depression have been found to experience a higher rate of stress in their lives, it remains unclear to what extent other personal characteristics may contribute to stress generation. The current study extended past research by examining the effects of two theoretically and empirically supported cognitive vulnerabilities to depression (negative cognitive style and rumination) as predictors of dependent interpersonal and achievement events, independent events, and relational peer victimization. In a diverse sample of 301 early adolescents (56 % female; Mage = 12.82 years), we found that negative cognitive style prospectively predicted the experience of dependent interpersonal stress and relational victimization, and that rumination did not predict stress in any of the domains. Furthermore, the occurrence of intervening stress mediated the associations between negative cognitive style and subsequent depressive symptoms. Additionally, whereas negative cognitive style predicted relational victimization among both boys and girls, girls were particularly vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms following the occurrence of relational victimization. Thus, a negative cognitive style may contribute to the occurrence of stressful events, which in turn increases depressive symptoms. Girls may be particularly reactive to relational victimization, representing one pathway through which sex differences in depression may emerge.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A negative binomial regression was also conducted for relational victimization given its non-normal distribution and large percentage of values of zero.

  2. The results for the negative binomial regression were consistent with those presented in the hierarchical linear regressions. Results available by request from the first author.

  3. We also examined the interactive effects of negative cognitive style and rumination on stress generation. However, these findings were not significant and thus, were not included in the main text.

  4. These results are available upon request from the first author.

References

  • Abela, J. R. Z., & Hankin, B. L. (2008). Cognitive vulnerability to depression in children and adolescents: A developmental psychopathology perspective. In J. R. Z. Abela & B. L. Hankin (Eds.), Handbook of depression in children and adolescents (pp. 35–78). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abela, J. R. Z., Vanderbilt, E., & Rochon, A. (2004). A test of the integration of the response styles and social support theories of depression in third and seventh grade children. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 653–674.

    Article  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 

  • Alloy, L. B., Abramson, L. Y., Whitehouse, W. G., Hogan, M. E., Panzarella, C., & Rose, D. T. (2006). Prospective incidence of first onsets and recurrences of depression in individuals at high and low cognitive risk for depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 145–156.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alloy, L. B., Black, S. K., Young, M. E., Goldstein, K. E., Shapero, B. G., Stange, J. P., et al. (2012). Cognitive vulnerabilities and depression versus other psychopathology symptoms and diagnoses in early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41, 539–560.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, L., Carlin, J. B., Thomas, L., Rubin, K., & Patton, G. (2001). Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers. British Medical Journal, 323, 480–484.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brunwasser, S. M., Gillham, J. E., & Kim, E. S. (2009). A meta-analytic review of the Penn Resiliency Program’s effect on depressive symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 1042–1054.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, D. A., & Maxwell, S. E. (2003). Testing mediational models with longitudinal data: questions and tips in the use of Structural Equation Modelling. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 558–577.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, D. A., Ciesla, J. A., Dallaire, D. H., Jacquez, F. M., Pineda, A. Q., LaGrange, B., et al. (2008). Emergence of attributional style and its relation to depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 16–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1996). Children’s treatment by peers: victims of relational and overt aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 367–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R., Casas, J. F., & Nelson, D. A. (2002). Toward a more comprehensive understanding of peer maltreatment: studies of relational victimization. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 98–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desjardins, T. L., & Leadbeater, B. J. (2011). Relational victimization and depressive symptoms in adolescence: moderating effects of mother, father, and peer emotional support. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 531–544.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, M., Kecmanovic, J., & Alloy, L. B. (2010). An examination of integrated cognitive-interpersonal vulnerability to depression: the role of rumination, perceived social support, and interpersonal stress generation. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34, 456–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, X., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., Elder, G. H., & Simons, R. L. (1994). Trajectories of stressful life events and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 467–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibb, B. E., & Hanley, A. J. (2010). Depression and interpersonal stress generation in children: prospective impact on relational versus overt victimization. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 3, 358–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gore, S., Aseltine, R. H., & Colton, M. E. (1993). Gender, social-relational involvement, and depression. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 3, 101–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C. (1991). Generation of stress in the course of unipolar depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 555–561.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C. (2005). Stress and depression. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 293–319.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L. (2008). Stability of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression: a short-term prospective multiwave study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 324–333.

    Article  PubMed  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. (2002). Measuring cognitive vulnerability to depression in adolescence: reliability, validity and gender differences. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 491–504.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Mermelstein, R., & Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression. Stress exposure and reactivity models. Child Development, 78, 279–295.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Stone, L. B., & Wright, P. A. (2010). Co-rumination, interpersonal stress generation, and internalizing symptoms: accumulating effects and transactional influences in a multi-wave study of adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 217–235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E., Bromell, L., Tyson, D. F., & Flint, R. (2007). Developmental commentary: ecological perspectives on parental influences during adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 367–377.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J. S., Mezulis, A., & Abramson, L. Y. (2008). The ABCs of depression: integrating affective, biological, and cognitive models to explain the emergence of the gender difference in depression. Psychological Review, 115, 291–313.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E., Miranda, J., & Segal, Z. (2006). Cognitive vulnerability to depression. In L. B. Alloy & J. R. Riskind (Eds.), Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders (pp. 63–92). New York: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T. E., Jr., Wingate, L. R., Gencoz, T., & Gencoz, F. (2005a). Stress generation in depression: three studies on its resilience, possible mechanism, and symptom specificity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 236–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T. E., Jr., Wingate, L. R., & Otamendi, A. (2005b). An interpersonal addendum to the hopelessness theory of depression: hopelessness as a stress and depression generator. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 649–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Karkowski, L. M., & Prescott, C. A. (1999). Causal relationship between stressful life events and the onset of major depression. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 837–841.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kercher, A., & Rapee, R. M. (2009). A test of a cognitive diathesis- stress generation pathway in adolescent depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 845–855.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Avenevoli, S., & Merikangas, K. R. (2001). Mood disorders in children and adolescents: an epidemiologic perspective. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1002–1014.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, D. N., Dougherty, L. R., & Olino, T. M. (2005). Toward guidelines for evidence-based assessment of depression in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 412–432.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M. (1985). The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21, 995–998.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, R. T., & Alloy, L. B. (2010). Stress generation in depression: a systematic review of the empirical literature and recommendations for future study. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 582–593.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • March, J. S., Parker, J. D. A., Sullivan, K., Stallings, P., & Conners, C. (1997). The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC): factor structure, reliability, and validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 554–565.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mazure, C. M. (1998). Life stressors as risk factors in depression. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 5, 291–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, K. A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012). Interpersonal stress generation as a mechanism linking rumination to internalizing symptoms in early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41, 584–597.

    Article  PubMed  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, 501–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A., & Chapman, J. P. (2001). Misunderstanding analysis of covariance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 40–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 569–582.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Assessing moderated mediation hypotheses: theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42, 185–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., Boergers, J., & Vernberg, E. M. (2001). Overt and relational aggression in adolescents: social-psychological adjustment of aggressors and victims. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 30, 479–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riskind, J. H., Black, D., & Shahar, G. (2010). Cognitive vulnerability to anxiety in the stress generation process: interaction between the Looming Cognitive Style and Anxiety Sensitivity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 124–128.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rood, L., Roelofs, J., Bogels, S. M., & Meester, C. (2012). Stress-reactive rumination, negative cognitive style, and stressors in relationship to depressive symptoms in non-clinical youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 414–425.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, A. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 1830–1843.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactions in youngsters: a transactional perspective. Child Development, 70, 660–677.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Safford, S. M., Alloy, L. B., Abramson, L. Y., & Crossfield, A. G. (2007). Negative cognitive style as a predictor of negative life events in depression-prone individuals: a test of the stress generation hypothesis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 99, 147–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shih, J. H., Eberhart, N. K., Hammen, C. L., & Brennan, P. A. (2006). Differential exposure and reactivity to interpersonal stress predict sex differences in adolescent depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 103–115.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shih, J. H., Abela, J. R. Z., & Starrs, C. (2009). Cognitive and interpersonal predictors of stress generation in children of affectively ill parents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 195–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Uliaszek, A. A., Zinbarg, R. E., Mineka, S., Craske, M. G., Griffith, J. W., Sutton, J. M., et al. (2012). A longitudinal examination of stress generation in depressive and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121, 4–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Lang, N. D., Ferdinand, R. F., & Verhulst, F. C. (2007). Predictors of future depression in early and late adolescence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 97, 137–144.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH79369 to Lauren B. Alloy. Jonathan P. Stange was supported by National Research Service Award F31MH099761 from NIMH. Benjamin G. Shapero was supported by National Research Service Award F31MH099764 from NIMH.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Weiss Hall, 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Jessica L. Hamilton, Jonathan P. Stange, Benjamin G. Shapero, Samantha L. Connolly & Lauren B. Alloy

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson St., Madison, WI, USA

    Lyn Y. Abramson

Authors
  1. Jessica L. Hamilton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan P. Stange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benjamin G. Shapero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Samantha L. Connolly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lyn Y. Abramson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lauren B. Alloy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica L. Hamilton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hamilton, J.L., Stange, J.P., Shapero, B.G. et al. Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Predictors of Stress Generation in Early Adolescence: Pathway to Depressive Symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41, 1027–1039 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9742-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9742-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation