3-069 - A Multimethod Examination of Youth’s Depressive Symptoms and Physiological Indices of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Depressed youth experience pronounced functional impairment and are at greater risk for a chronic, recurrent course of depression (Birmaher, 2008). Although aberrations in emotion regulation (ER) and reactivity figure prominently in clinical conceptualizations of childhood depression, surprisingly few studies have examined emotional processes underlying children’s depressive symptoms, and even fewer have capitalized on psychophysiological assessment methods. Similarly, research on adult depression often focuses on maladaptive ER strategies (e.g., rumination) or patterns of altered emotion reactivity as correlates of depression (e.g., Bylsma et al., 2008), but little attention has been paid to how these patterns contribute to youth’s depressive symptoms (Somers et al., 2015). The transition to adolescence offers an important ontogenetic window to investigate associations between depressive symptoms and emotional processes because atypical patterns of emotion during this period may increase risk for worsening depressive symptoms and onset of major depression (Kovacs, Joormann, & Gotlib, 2008). The presentations included herein provide a multimethod explication of the complex links between depressive symptoms, ER, and emotion reactivity among youth.
Presenter 1 will test a model exploring how ER contributes to concurrent and prospective relations between subjective emotions, rumination, physiological regulation, and depressive symptoms. Group 2 will present data examining the effects of depressive symptoms and rumination on physiological and subjective emotional reactivity. Group 3 will present longitudinal data examining whether children’s linguistic self-focus accounts for the association between their depressive symptoms and physiological reactivity. Together, these presentations will shed light on the bidirectional links between children’s emotional processes and depressive symptoms.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Jennifer A. Somers, Arizona State University

Discussant

• Jessica Borelli, Pomona College

Individual Presentations

• Associations between children’s positive and negative emotions and rumination, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and depression - Presenting Author: John K Coffey, Sewanee: The University of the South

• Depressive Symptoms, Rumination and Physiological Emotion Reactivity Among Youth: Moderation by Gender - Presenting Author: Jennifer A. Somers, Arizona State University; Jessica Borelli, Pomona College; Lori Hilt, Lawrence University

• School-aged Children’s We-Talk Mediates the Association between Depressive Symptoms and Physiological Stress Reactivity - Presenting Author: Melissa Pedroza, Pomona College & Claremont McKenna College; Callison Kernick, Pomona College; Aurora Brachman, Pomona College; Courtney Chan, Claremont McKenna College; Jessica West, Duke University; Patricia A Smiley, Pomona College; Jessica Borelli, Pomona College