A lab-based examination of adolescent girls’ expressed negative cognitions in response to an in vivo social stressor: Links to depressive symptoms

Observational methods were used to examine the interaction of expressed negative cognitions to an in vivo social stressor as a concurrent predictor of adolescent girls’ depression. Thirty adolescent females and their close friends participated in a lab-based paradigm that involved an impromptu speech task which was designed to serve as an in vivo social stressor. Adolescents who demonstrated a tendency to make expressed negative cognitions that were global rather than specific reported higher concurrent levels of depressive symptoms. Indirect (i.e., relational and reputational) peer victimization moderated the effect of observed expressed negative cognitions and depressive symptoms, providing preliminary observational evidence in support of prior research on cognitive vulnerability-stress models. Theoretical and clinical implications of findings are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Nicole Heilbron Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychia ...