Poster #62 - Temperament and Symptom Pathways to the Development of Adolescent Depression

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

As the incidence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) rises as youth transition through adolescence, understanding predictive risk factors and risk pathways that lead to MDD during adolescence is critical for successful prevention and intervention efforts. Studies have demonstrated the existence of both internalizing (Rueter el al., 1999) and externalizing (Lewinsohn et al., 1995) pathways to MDD. Aggression, a dimension of externalizing problems, can elicit social rejection, and can predict depressive symptoms (Saluja et al., 2004). Additionally, specific dimensions of temperament (high negative affect, low effortful control (EC) and positive affect) have been linked to later depression (De Bolle et al., 2011). However, many studies linking these factors to depressive symptoms have relied on cross-sectional anlysis. To our knowledge, the existence of unique risk pathways to MDD using the constructs of internalizing and externalizing symptoms have not yet been examined in a prospective sample encompassing the full period of adolescent development.
This study begins to fill these gaps by using a longitudinal sample (N=243; 122 female) to examine the impact of early adolescent temperament, averaged across ages 11 and 12, leading to internalizing and externalizing problems at 12, which in turn predict MDD by age 19 (see Figure 1). Based on the importance of interpersonal processes in early adolescence, we examined whether social problems were salient mediators for MDD. Internalizing symptoms were assessed using the BAI and CESD. Externalizing symptoms were assessed using the CBCL, which includes a “social problems” subscale. Principal component analysis was conducted to isolate and extract symptom factors, with an internalizing and an externalizing component emerging with Eigen values above one. Negative emotionality (related to negative affect), affiliation, EC, and surgency (related to positive affect) were assessed using the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire – Revised. MDD was assessed across ages 13-19 using youth reports on the K-SADS-PL psychiatric interview.
A series of logistic regressions were conducted to examine the predictive value of internalizing and social problems factors on the development of MDD, while controlling for sex. Internalizing symptoms uniquely predicted an outcome of MDD (p < .001), but externalizing symptoms did not (ns). However, social problems were found to be a unique predictive pathway (p = .033).
Mediation analysis revealed that high temperamental negative emotionality (standard indirect effect of .378; 95% CI = .13 to .674), high affiliation (.148; 95% CI = .017 to .367), low EC (-.475; 95% CI = -.794 to -.199), and low surgency (-.236; 95% CI = -.431 to -.093) were significant vulnerability factors for MDD, whose direct effects were accounted for by internalizing symptoms. Low effortful control (-.145; 95% CI = -.337 to -.008) was the only significant mediational predictor for depression via social problems. As such, high levels of effortful control acted as a protective factor for the development of MDD across internalizing symptoms and social problems, suggesting that self-regulation may be an important target for prevention strategies. Moreover, these findings suggest that negative social experiences may represent a common pathway to depression relevant to both internalizing and externalizing domains.

Authors

• Luciano Dolcini-Catania, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Michelle Byrne, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Whittle, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Orli Schwartz, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julian G. Simmons, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nick Allen, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author