One in four girls, compared to one in eight boys, is likely to warrant a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder by the time she finishes adolescence. What exactly causes these disturbing sex differences is at the center of decades of intense research and debate, yielding few definitive answers thus far. Recent support has emerged for Response Style Theory, positing that gender differences in rumination, or the tendency to perseverate about symptoms and causes of one's depression, may explain a large part of the these sex differences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1994). The mechanisms by which rumination causes this gender disparity, however, are still unknown. This study proposes to test a new moderated mediational model of rumination in middle childhood and early adolescence to help explain the sex differences in prevalence rates of depression during adolescence. Our application examines how female gender identification may mediate the relation between sex and rumination, and how rumination may in turn mediate the link to depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we will look at how this model is moderated by the effects of age and pubertal development. We hypothesize that this mediational model will explain why the sex-depression link only becomes evident during adolescence, but not in childhood. Adding such a moderational component to the model will help explain why pre-pubertal girls and boys have similar rates of depression, but girls become more likely to develop depressive symptoms later on. We will administer questionnaires to 450 students, their parents, and their teachers in grades 4, 6 and 8 at three time points during the school year (approximately 3 months apart). We will use latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) to test our mediational hypotheses and multi-group SEM to test our moderational hypotheses. By advancing our understanding of the emergent gender difference in depressive symptoms, we will contribute to knowledge about the etiology of depression for both males and females. This knowledge will enable clinicians to target high-risk youth for prevention and intervention programs and will facilitate the distribution of resources to those who need them most. This project dovetails nicely with the priority given to research on gender differences in adolescent depression by the Division of Pediatric Translational Research and Treatment Development.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31MH079670-03
Application #
7750603
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F11-K (20))
Program Officer
Sesma, Michael A
Project Start
2008-01-01
Project End
2010-07-31
Budget Start
2010-01-01
Budget End
2010-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$13,811
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Education
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Felton, Julia W; Cole, David A; Havewala, Mazneen et al. (2018) Talking Together, Thinking Alone: Relations among Co-Rumination, Peer Relationships, and Rumination. J Youth Adolesc :
Martin, Nina C; Felton, Julia W; Cole, David A (2016) Predictors of Youths' Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following a Natural Disaster: The 2010 Nashville, Tennessee, Flood. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 45:335-47
Felton, Julia W; Kofler, Michael J; Lopez, Cristina M et al. (2015) The emergence of co-occurring adolescent polysubstance use and depressive symptoms: A latent growth modeling approach. Dev Psychopathol 27:1367-83
Soltis, Kathryn; Davidson, Tatiana M; Moreland, Angela et al. (2015) Associations Among Parental Stress, Child Competence, and School-Readiness: Findings from the PACE Study. J Child Fam Stud 24:649-657
Cole, David A; Dukewich, Tammy L; Roeder, Kathryn et al. (2014) Linking peer victimization to the development of depressive self-schemas in children and adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 42:149-60
Bilsky, Sarah A; Cole, David A; Dukewich, Tammy L et al. (2013) Does supportive parenting mitigate the longitudinal effects of peer victimization on depressive thoughts and symptoms in children? J Abnorm Psychol 122:406-19
Felton, Julia W; Cole, David A; Martin, Nina C (2013) Effects of rumination on child and adolescent depressive reactions to a natural disaster: the 2010 Nashville flood. J Abnorm Psychol 122:64-73
Reilly, Laura C; Ciesla, Jeffrey A; Felton, Julia W et al. (2012) Cognitive vulnerability to depression: a comparison of the weakest link, keystone and additive models. Cogn Emot 26:521-33
Lopez, Cristina M; Felton, Julia W; Driscoll, Kimberly A et al. (2012) Brooding Rumination and Internalizing Symptoms in Childhood: Investigating Symptom Specificity in a Multi-Wave Prospective Study. Int J Cogn Ther 5:240-253
Tilghman-Osborne, Carlos; Cole, David A; Felton, Julia W (2012) Inappropriate and excessive guilt: instrument validation and developmental differences in relation to depression. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40:607-20

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