Emotional functioning in children and adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms
- Authors: Hughes, Elizabeth , Gullone, Eleonora , Watson, Shaun
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Vol. 33, no. 3 (2011), p. 335-345
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- Description: Difficulties with emotion and its regulation are of central importance to the etiology and course of depression. The current study investigated these constructs in relation to childhood and adolescence by comparing the emotional functioning of 170 9- to 15-year-olds reporting high levels of depressive symptoms (HD) to a matched sample of 170 children and adolescents reporting low levels of depressive symptoms (LD). Compared to LD, HD participants reported significantly greater shame proneness, poorer functioning on emotion regulation competencies (emotional control, self-awareness and situational responsiveness), less healthy emotion regulation strategy use (less reappraisal and greater suppression), and lower levels of guilt proneness. Empathic concern did not differ between the two groups. The findings enhance current knowledge by providing a more comprehensive profile of the emotional difficulties experienced by children and adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Children's depression inventory: Invariance across children and adolescents with and without depressive disorders
- Authors: Gomez, Rapson , Vance, Alasdair , Gomez, Andre
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychological Assessment Vol. 24, no. 1 (2012), p. 1-10
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- Description: In the study, the authors examined the measurement (configural, factor loadings, thresholds, and error variances) and structural (factor variances, covariances, and mean scores) invariance of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) across ratings provided by clinic-referred children and adolescents with (N = 383) and without (N = 412) depressive disorders. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis of the Craighead, Smucker, Craighead, and Ilardi (1998) CDI model supported full measurement invariance and invariance for structural variances and covariances. Invariance for thresholds was also supported by multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) procedures that controlled for the effects of age; sex; and the presence or absence of anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and oppositional defiant/conduct disorders. The MIMIC analyses showed that for latent mean scores, the group with depressive disorders had higher scores, with at least medium effect sizes, for Self-Deprecation and Biological Dysregulation. The theoretical, psychometric, and clinical implications of the findings are discussed. © 2011 American Psychological Association.
Maternal depression and the emotional availability of mothers at six months postpartum: Findings from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS) pregnancy cohort
- Authors: MacMillan, Kelli , Lewis, Andrew , Watson, Stuart , Galbally, Megan
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Affective Disorders Vol. 266, no. (2020), p. 678-685
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- Description: •Perinatal depression has been associated with poorer quality mother-infant interaction.•Emotional availability (EA) is an observable aspect of the mother-infant interaction.•Of the maternal depression and EA studies, few utilise both symptomatic and diagnostic measures.•Symptoms but not diagnosis of depression in early pregnancy were associated with lower EA.•Neither diagnosis of depression or late pregnancy or postnatal symptoms were linked to reduced EA. Existing research suggests maternal depression may reduce the quality of early mother-infant interaction and this might increase our understanding of how maternal mental health impacts on child development outcomes. However, most studies recruit from community samples and few include both a diagnostic measure of maternal depression together with an observational measure of the quality of the mother-infant relationship. Data was drawn from 210 women recruited in early pregnancy until 6 months postpartum within an Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study. Those women who at six months postpartum were video recorded interacting with their infant for at least 40-minutes were included in this study, with the quality of those interactions assessed using the Emotional Availability Scales coding system. Depression was measured using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV-TR Clinician Version and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and covariates included maternal age and education. Whilst results showed a small negative association between antenatal depressive symptoms in trimester one of pregnancy and maternal EA, there was no effect of maternal depression diagnosis or of maternal depressive symptoms in later pregnancy or postpartum. This study focuses exclusively on mothers and does not account for the role of partners. Maternal depression might have a smaller effect on maternal EA then some existing research implies, with that effect most prevalent in early pregnancy. Clinical intervention might not be necessary for all mother-infant dyads experiencing depressive symptomology, but instead be directed to those with additional risk factors.
Maternal perinatal depression, circulating oxytocin levels and childhood emotional disorders at 4 years of age: The importance of psychosocial context
- Authors: Galbally, Megan , Watson, Stuart , Keelan, Jeff , MacMillan, Kelli , Power, Josephine , Ijzendoorn, Marinus van , Lewis, Andrew
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Psychiatric Research Vol. 130, no. (2020), p. 247-253
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- Description: Oxytocin has been a hormone of interest in understanding both depression and parenting. Here, the role of oxytocin has been explored in understanding the interaction between perinatal depression, history of trauma and subsequent longer-term child socio-emotional outcomes. Data were obtained from 203 pregnant women from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS), a pregnancy cohort study with data collected across pregnancy, postpartum and until 4 years for mother and child. Maternal antenatal depression was measured using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV) together with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to measure maternal trauma history. Maternal oxytocin levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay following extraction at four time points across pregnancy and the postpartum. The offspring consisted of 203 children followed up from birth until 4 years of age when they were assessed for DSM 5 depression and anxiety disorders (emotional disorders) using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment. Maternal oxytocin levels increased over pregnancy and the postpartum in both control and depressed women with no difference between groups. Maternal childhood trauma and antenatal antidepressant use was also not associated with maternal oxytocin levels. Lower gestational age, maternal depression and early childhood trauma, and late pregnancy oxytocin concentrations were associated with later childhood emotional disorders together they predicted 10% of variance for emotional disorders. Oxytocin is a hormone whose role in understanding intergenerational risk from pregnancy to child emotional disorders is dependent on relational context. Future research can expand on understanding these important early predictors of childhood mental health.