The Role of Negative Emotionality and Maternal Hostility in Predicting Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of heightened risk for the onset of depression (Costello et al., 2002), with the prevalence of major depression rising sharply during middle adolescence (SAMSHA, 2018). Furthermore, youth with an elevated trajectory of depressive symptoms experience more mental health problems in young adulthood (Dekker et al., 2007). The current study examines potential risk factors in mid-adolescence that may contribute to heightened levels of depressive symptoms during late adolescence.

Individual differences in emotional reactivity, especially negative emotionality (NE), may serve as one source of vulnerability for the development of depression in adolescence. NE refers to the propensity of experiencing frequent and intense negative emotions, including sadness, fear, and frustration (Rothbart & Bates, 1998). High NE has been consistently linked to depressive disorders and increases in depressive symptoms during adolescence (Klein et al., 2011). Although high NE is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of adolescent depression, additional factors may exacerbate the detrimental effects of high NE to predict increased depressive symptoms in late adolescence.

The period of mid-adolescence is marked by increased intensity of parent-adolescent conflicts (Laursen et al., 1998), driven, in part, by increasing demands such as pressures at school and in peer and romantic relationships, and also new sources of conflict between parents and adolescents such as substance use (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). While disagreements may be more common during this period, the quality of parent-adolescent interactions impacts adolescents’ emotional outcomes (Eisenberg et al., 2008). Specifically, high parental hostility (e.g., devaluing remarks, harshness, contempt) towards the adolescent may increase youths’ negative mood.

This study examined whether maternal hostility during a parent-adolescent discussion task moderated the link between NE and depressive symptoms, hypothesizing that maternal hostility would exacerbate this link. Participants included 178 mother-adolescent dyads in a longitudinal study of youth socio-emotional development. During a 15-year laboratory visit, adolescents completed a self-report measure of NE (Adult Temperament Questionnaire; Evans & Rothbart, 2007) and maternal hostility was coded by two trained research assistants via a laboratory observation task in which dyads were instructed to discuss conflictual topics (kappa=0.75). Adolescents completed a self-report measure of depressive symptoms at 17 years of age (Children’s Depression Questionnaire; Kovacs, 1992).

A multiple regression analysis revealed a significant interaction, where maternal hostility at age 15 moderated the link between age 15 NE and age 17 depressive symptoms (B=.140, p=.024), adjusting for depressive symptoms at age 15. Follow-up analyses revealed that NE significantly predicted depressive symptoms at high levels of maternal hostility (B=.231, p=.013). However, this association was not significant at low levels of maternal hostility (B=-.062; p=.500). Youth with frequent and intense negative emotions and mothers who display hostility during conflictual interactions are at increased risk for depressive symptoms in late adolescence. These findings can inform interventions for at-risk youth to improve parent-child communication in mid-adolescence, specifically reducing maternal hostility during these interactions.

Authors

• Yuji Kim, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Susan Phillips Keane, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan D Calkins, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lilly Shanahan, University of Zurich
  Non-Presenting Author