Abstract
In a preliminary effort to integrate cognitive, life stress, and interpersonal approaches to vulnerability to depression, children's cognitions about themselves, their stressful life events, and the interaction of self-cognitions and life events were tested as predictors of depression. Children of normal, medically ill, and bipolar and unipolar depressed mothers were assessed initially and 6 months later for diagnostic status using the Kiddie-SADS interview. As predicted, Piers-Harris self-concept scores and interview-assessed children's stressful life events significantly predicted changes in depression status over the 6-month follow-up. Stressors and the interaction of stressors and self-concept also predicted changes in diagnosis of nonaffective disorders. A self-schema measure of accessibility of negative self-cognitions, known to be mood-dependent, failed to add to the prediction of depression severity. The results are consistent with a model of depression vulnerability that emphasizes cognition about self-worth and self-efficacy as mediators of the impact of stressful events, and we speculate that such self-schemas are acquired in part in the context of parent-child relationships. Recommendations are given for further studies of the acquisition and the mechanisms of self-schemas.
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This research was supported by an award from the William T. Grant Foundation. The assistance of Cheri Adrian, Dorli Burge, David Gordon, Donald Hiroto, Carol Jaenicke, our research staff, and cooperating agencies is gratefully acknowledged.
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Hammen, C. Self-cognitions, stressful events, and the prediction of depression in children of depressed mothers. J Abnorm Child Psychol 16, 347–360 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00913805
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00913805