Physiological and Behavioral Engagement in Social Contexts as Predictors of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms
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EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Physiological and Behavioral Engagement in Social Contexts as Predictors of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Judith K. Morgan • Daniel S. Shaw Erika E. Forbes
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Received: 28 June 2012 / Accepted: 25 August 2012 / Published online: 14 September 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Depressive symptoms are considered to have evolutionary social functions to reduce social risks with peers and family members. However, social processes and their relationship to depressive symptoms have been understudied in adolescent boys. Low engagement in social contexts may predict depressive symptoms in adolescent boys, as it may signify efforts to reduce social risks. To address these issues, this study focused on 160 boys at risk for affective problems based on low socioeconomic status. We evaluated how behavioral and physiological engagement in peer and family contexts, respectively, in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12 and age 15. Social withdrawal was measured across late childhood (ages 9–12) in a camp setting using a latent variable of teacher ratings of withdrawn behavior, peer nominations of withdrawn behavior, and camp counselor ratings of withdrawn behavior. Physiological reactivity was measured during a provocative parent–child conversation using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at age 12. Social withdrawal in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12. The combination of high levels of social withdrawal with peers from ages 9–12 and low RSA reactivity with a parent at age 12 predicted higher depressive symptoms at age 15. Withdrawal in multiple social contexts may place boys at risk for depressive symptoms during the vulnerable period of adolescence.
J. K. Morgan (&) E. E. Forbes Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA e-mail: [email protected] D. S. Shaw Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Keywords Depression Adolescence Social withdrawal RSA Engagement
Introduction Recent conceptual models have characterized depression as a disorder of problematic social functioning, with social frustrations (e.g., peer rejection) frequently preceding the onset of first episodes (Allen and Badcock 2003). The current study examined how two components of low engagement in social contexts, diminished physiological arousal and greater behavioral withdrawal, may specifically predict depressive symptoms in adolescence. We propose that trait-like levels of low arousal and engagement in social situations may function as an endophenotype for depression (Hasler et al. 2004), in that withdrawing in social situations may be an effort to reduce the threat of social disappointment associated with depression. As rates of depressive symptoms in adolescence rise even in the absence of clinical diagnosis, and as even subthreshold levels of depressive symptoms have been associated with social and cognitive impairments and increased risk for clinical depression later in development (Lewinsohn et al. 20
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