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Descriptive longitudinal studies have identified three distinct "phases" in the development of depression during
childhood and adolescence. First, few preadolescent children develop depression (i.e., prevalence rate of 1-2%).
Second, a sex difference in depression rates emerges around middle puberty (i.e., ages 12-13). By age 15 girls are
twice as likely as boys to experience depression. Third, rates of depression increase dramatically beginning in
middle adolescence from around 3% at age 15 to 17% at age 18. The overarching goal of this project is to advance
understanding of the ontogeny of depression over time from childhood through early adolescence from an integrated
vulnerability- transactional stress model of depression. We propose to study theoretically motivated questions
concerning the development of depression throughout these phases using an accelerated longitudinal cohort design.
More specifically, we aim
- to understand the transactional interplay of genetic, cognitive, and interpersonal vulnerabilities with
stressors and how these vulnerability and stress processes can combine together to predict growth in depressive symptoms
throughout development and onset of depressive episodes in adolescence
- to elucidate whether the emerging sex difference in depression can be explained by developmental changes
in the interplay of psychosocial and genetic vulnerability factors with stressors across time and age, and
- to investigate reciprocal, transactional associations between stressors and depression over time, across
ages and sex, and by vulnerability level. We will follow 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders (n=250 in each cohort; a total of
750 youth), after an initial lab assessment, every 3 months for 3 years (12 follow-up assessments) using a multi-informant
(youth, mothers, clinicians) and multi-method (questionnaire, interview, lab-assessments) design.
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