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Maternal depression and trajectories of adolescent depression: The role of stress responses in youth risk and resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2017

Jennifer D. Monti  and
Karen D. Rudolph
Jennifer D. Monti*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Karen D. Rudolph
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jennifer Monti, Center for Biobehavioral Health, Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205; E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

This study examined the independent and interactive contributions of maternal depression and youth stress responses to trajectories of youth depression in adolescence. Youths (n = 165, M age = 12.43, SD = 1.18) and their maternal caregivers participated in a 4-year longitudinal study. Mothers and youths were administered diagnostic interviews assessing depression, and youths provided reports of their responses to peer stress. Consistent with an interactive model, adaptive responses to stress (high effortful engagement and low involuntary disengagement) buffered the effect of maternal depression on initial levels and trajectories of youth depression, with gender differences emerging. Consistent with a dual-risk model, maternal depression and maladaptive responses to stress (high effortful disengagement and involuntary engagement) contributed additive risks such that youths displayed the highest levels of depression when they were exposed to maternal depression and showed maladaptive stress responses. This research provides novel evidence that responses to stress contribute to individual differences in depression among offspring of depressed mothers, and suggests that responses to stress are an important target for efforts to promote resilience in at-risk youth.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1413 - 1429
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

This research was supported by National Institute for Mental Health Grant MH59711, a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, and a University of Illinois Arnold O. Beckman Research Award (to K.D.R.). We thank the families who participated in this study. We are grateful to Jamie Abaied, Melissa Caldwell, Alyssa Clark, Colleen Conley, Alison Dupre, Julie Eisengart, Megan Flynn, Alison Groot, Elisa Krackow, and Kathryn Kurlakowsky for their contributions to this project and Howard Berenbaum, Nancy McElwain, Eva Pomerantz, and Eva Telzer for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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