Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T09:27:06.753Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamic temporal relations between anxious and depressive symptoms across adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2013

Chrystyna D. Kouros ,
Susanna Quasem  and
Judy Garber
Chrystyna D. Kouros*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
Susanna Quasem
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
Judy Garber
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Chrystyna D. Kouros, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750442, Dallas, TX 75275; E-mail: ckouros@smu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Symptoms of anxiety and depression are prevalent among adolescents and associated with impairment in multiple domains of functioning. Moreover, anxiety and depression frequently co-occur, with estimated comorbidity rates as high as 75%. Whereas previous research has shown that anxiety symptoms predict increased depressive symptoms over time, the relation between depressive symptoms and later anxiety symptoms has been inconsistent. The present study examined dynamic relations between anxiety and depressive symptoms across adolescence and explored whether these longitudinal relations were moderated by maternal history of anxiety, family relationship quality, or children's attributional style. Participants included 240 children (M age = 11.86 years; 53.9% female) and their mothers, who were assessed annually for 6 years. Children reported on their depressive symptoms and mothers reported on their child's anxiety symptoms. Dynamic latent change score models indicated that anxiety symptoms predicted subsequent elevations in depressive symptoms over time. Depressive symptoms predicted subsequent elevations in anxiety symptoms among children who had mothers with a history of anxiety, reported low family relationship quality, or had high levels of negative attributions. Thus, whereas anxiety symptoms were a robust predictor of later depressive symptoms during adolescence, contextual and individual factors may be important to consider when examining relations between depressive symptoms and subsequent change in anxiety symptoms.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , August 2013 , pp. 683 - 697
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abela, J. R. Z., & Hankin, B. L. (2008). Cognitive vulnerability to depression in children and adolescents: A developmental psychopathology perspective. In Abela, J. R. Z. & Hankin, B. L. (Eds.), Handbook of depression in children and adolescents (pp. 35–78). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372.Google Scholar
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR, and TRF profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Alden, L. E., & Taylor, C. T. (2004). Interpersonal processes in social phobia. Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 857–882.Google Scholar
Arbuckle, J. L. (2007). AMOS 16.0 user's guide. Chicago: Small Waters Corporation.Google Scholar
Avenevoli, S., Stolar, M., Li, J., Dierker, L., & Merikangas, K. (2001). Comorbidity of depression in children and adolescents: Models and evidence from a prospective high-risk family study. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1071–1081.Google Scholar
Axelson, D. A., & Birmaher, B. (2001). Relations between anxiety and depressive disorders in childhood and adolescence. Depression and Anxiety, 14, 67–78.Google Scholar
Aydin, B., & Oztütüncü, F. (2001). Examination of adolescents' negative thoughts, depressive mood, and family environment. Adolescence, 36, 77–83.Google Scholar
Beardslee, W. R., Versage, E. M., & Gladstone, T. R. G. (1998). Children of affectively ill parents: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1134–1141.Google Scholar
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biederman, J., Petty, C., Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Henin, A., Faraone, S. V., Dang, D., et al. (2006). A controlled longitudinal 5-year follow-up study of children and high and low risk for panic disorder and major depression. Psychological Medicine, 36, 1141–1152.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J. F., Bolduc, E. A., Faraone, S. V., & Hirschfield, D. R. (1991). A high-risk study of young children of parents with panic disorder and agoraphobia with and without comorbid major depression. Psychiatry Research, 37, 333–348.Google Scholar
Birmaher, B., Ryan, N. D., Williamson, D. E., Brent, D. A., Kaufman, J., Dahl, R. E., et al. (1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1427–1439.Google Scholar
Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent growth curve models: A structural equation perspective. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In Bollen, K. A. & Long, J. S. (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–262). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Brozina, K., & Abela, J. R. Z. (2006). Symptoms of hopelessness depression and anxiety in children: Specificity of the hopelessness theory. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 515–527.Google Scholar
Cole, D. A., Martin, J. M., Powers, B., & Truglio, R. (1996). Modeling causal relations between academic and social competence and depression: A multitrait–multimethod longitudinal study of children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 258–270.Google Scholar
Cole, D. A., & McPherson, A. E. (1993). Relation of family subsystems to adolescent depression: Implementing a new family assessment strategy. Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 119–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, D. A., Peeke, L. G., Martin, J. M., Truglio, R., & Serocynski, A. D. (1998). A longitudinal look at the relation between depression and anxiety in children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 451–460.Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87–127.Google Scholar
Costello, E. J., Foley, D. L., & Angold, A. (2006). 10-year research update review: The epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders: 11. Developmental epidemiology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45, 8–25.Google Scholar
Costello, E. J., Mustillo, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 837–844.Google Scholar
Eberhart, N. K., & Hammen, C. L. (2006). Interpersonal predictors of onset of depression during the transition to adulthood. Personal Relationships, 13, 195–206.Google Scholar
Feldman, S. S., Rubinstein, J. L., & Rubin, C. (1988). Depressive affect and restraint in early adolescents: Relationships with family structure, family process and friendship supports. Journal of Early Adolescence, 8, 279–296.Google Scholar
Ferrer, E., & McArdle, J. J. (2003). Alternative structural models for multivariate longitudinal data analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 10, 493–524.Google Scholar
Ferrer, E., & McArdle, J. J. (2010). Longitudinal modeling of developmental changes in psychological research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 149–154.Google Scholar
Flannery-Shroeder, E. C. (2006). Reducing anxiety to prevent depression. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31, S136–S142.Google Scholar
Forehand, R., Biggar, H., & Kotchick, B. A. (1998). Cumulative risk across family stressors: Short- and long-term effects for adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 119–128.Google Scholar
Garber, J. (2007). Depression in youth: A developmental psychopathology perspective. In Masten, A. S. (Ed.), Multilevel dynamics in developmental psychopathology: Pathways to the future (pp. 191–242). New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Garber, J., & Weersing, V. R. (2010). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in youth: Implications for treatment and prevention. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 17, 293–306.Google Scholar
Gazelle, H., & Ladd, G. W. (2003). Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood. Child Development, 74, 257–278.Google Scholar
Goodman, S. H., & Gotlib, I. H. (1999). Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: A developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission. Psychological Review, 106, 458–490.Google Scholar
Hammen, C. L. (1991). Depression runs in families: The social context of risk and resilience in children of depressed mothers. New York: Springer–Verlag.Google Scholar
Hammen, C., Burge, D., Burney, E., & Adrian, C. (1990). Longitudinal study of diagnoses in children of women with unipolar and bipolar affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 1112–1117.Google Scholar
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140.Google Scholar
Hawley, L. L., Ho, M. R., Zuroff, D. S., & Blatt, S. J. (2006). The relationship of perfectionism, depression, and therapeutic alliance during treatment for depression: Latent difference scores analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 930–942.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. B. (1975). Four Factor Index of Social Status. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. A., Furr, J. M., Sood, E. D., Barmish, A. J., & Kendall, P. C. (2009). Anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in parents of children with anxiety disorders. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40, 405–419.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. A., Hedtke, K. A., & Kendall, P. C. (2008). Family functioning in families of children with anxiety disorders. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 325–328.Google Scholar
Kaslow, N. L., Deering, C. G., & Racusin, G. R. (1994). Depressed children and their families. Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 39–59.Google Scholar
Keenan, K., Feng, X., Hipwell, A., & Klostermann, S. (2009). Depression begets depression: Comparing the predictive utility of depression and anxiety symptoms to later depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 1167–1175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kouros, C. D., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2010). Early trajectories of interparental conflict and externalizing problems as predictors of social competence in preadolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 527–538.Google Scholar
Kouros, C. D., & Garber, J. (2010). Dynamic associations between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescents' depressive and externalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 1069–1081.Google Scholar
Kouros, C. D., Merrilees, C. E., & Cummings, E. M. (2008). Marital conflict and children's emotional security in the context of parental depression. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 684–697.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1981). Rating scales to assess depression in school children. Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 46, 305–315.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1992). The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) manual. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M., Gatsonis, C., Paulauskas, S. L., & Richards, C. (1989). Depressive disorders in childhood: IV. A longitudinal study of comorbidity with and risk for anxiety disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 776–782.Google Scholar
Lau, S., & Kwok, L. (2000). Relationship of family environment to adolescents' depression and self-concept. Social Behavior and Personality, 28, 41–50.Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. M., Zinbarg, R., Seeley, J. R., Lewinsohn, M., & Sack, W. H. (1997). Lifetime comorbidity among anxiety disorders and between anxiety disorders and other mental disorders in adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 377–394.Google Scholar
Mason, M. J., Schmidt, C., Abraham, A., Walker, L., & Tercyak, K. (2009). Adolescents' social environment and depression: Social networks, extracurricular activity, and family relationship influences. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 16, 346–354.Google Scholar
McArdle, J. J., & Hamagami, F. (2001). Latent difference score structural models for linear dynamic analyses with incomplete longitudinal data. In Collins, L. M. & Sayer, A. G. (Eds.), New methods for the analysis of change (pp. 139–175). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Merikangas, K. R. (1990). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression: Review of family and genetic studies. In Maser, J. D. & Cloninger, C. R. (Eds.), Comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders (pp. 331–348). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Merikangas, K. R., Dierker, L. C., & Szatmari, P. (1998). Psychopathology among offspring of parents with substance abuse and/or anxiety disorders: A high-risk study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 711–720.Google ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, T. E., Harrington, H., Caspi, A., Kim-Cohen, J., Goldberg, D., Gregory, A. M., et al. (2007). Depression and generalized anxiety disorder: Cumulative and sequential comorbidity in a birth cohort followed prospectively to age 32 years. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 651–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moos, R., & Moos, B. (1994). Family Environment Scale manual: Development, applications, research (3rd ed.). Palo Alta, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.Google Scholar
Mufson, L., Weissman, M. M., & Warner, V. (1992). Depression and anxiety in parents and children: A direct interview study. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 6, 1–13.Google Scholar
O'Neil, K. A., Podell, J. L., Benjamin, C. L., & Kendall, P. C. (2010). Comorbid depressive disorders in anxiety-disordered youth: Demographic, clinical, and family characteristics. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 41, 330–341.Google Scholar
Pagani, L. S., Japel, C., Vaillancourt, T., Cote, S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2008). Links between life course trajectories of family dysfunction and anxiety during middle childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 41–53.Google Scholar
Pine, D. S., Cohen, P., Gurley, D., Brook, J., & Ma, Y. (1998). The risk for early-adulthood anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 56–64.Google Scholar
Rapee, R. M. (1997). Potential role of childrearing practices in the development of anxiety and depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 17, 47–67.Google Scholar
Reinherz, H. Z., Stewart-Berghauer, G., Pakiz, B., Frost, A. K., Moeykens, B. A., & Holmes, W. M. (1989). The relationship of early risk and current mediators to depressive symptomatology in adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 942–947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodriguez, C. M., & Pehi, P. (1998). Depression, anxiety, and attributional style in a New Zealand sample of children. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 27, 28–34.Google Scholar
Seligman, L. D., & Ollendick, T. H. (1998). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents: An integrative review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, 125–144.Google Scholar
Seligman, M. E., Kaslow, N. J., Alloy, L. B., Peterson, C., Tanenbaum, R. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (1984). Atrributional style and depressive symptoms among children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 235–238.Google Scholar
Sheeber, L., Hops, H., Alpert, A., Davis, B., & Andrews, J. (1997). Family support and conflict: Prospective relations to adolescent depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 25, 333–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheeber, L., Hops, H., & Davis, B. (2001). Family processes in adolescent depression. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4, 19–35.Google Scholar
Sitarenios, G., & Kovacs, M. (1999). Use of the Child Depression Inventory. In Maruish, M. E. (Ed.), The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcomes assessment (pp. 267–298). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Snyder, J., Bullard, L., Wagener, A., Leong, P. K., Snyder, J., & Jenkins, M. (2009). Childhood anxiety and depressive symptoms: Trajectories, relationship, and association with subsequent depression. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 38, 837–849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W., Gibbon, M., & First, M. B. (1990). User's guide for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R: SCID. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Thompson, M., Kaslow, N. J., Weiss, B., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1998). Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire—Revised: Psychometric examination. Psychological Assessment, 10, 166–170.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Leckman, J. F., Merikangas, K. R., Gammon, G. D., & Prusoff, B. A. (1984). Depression and anxiety disorders in parent and children: Results from the Yale Family Study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 845–852.Google Scholar
Zavos, H. M., Rijsdijk, F. V., Gregory, A. M., & Eley, T. C. (2010). Genetic influences on the cognitive biases associated with anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders, 124, 45–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed