Masaryk University
Faculty of Social Studies
Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family
FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLDS IN BRNO
A SLICE OF LONGITUDINAL SELF-REPORTS
Stanislav Ježek & Lenka Lacinová (Eds.)
Brno 2008
2
This book and relevant research activities were supported by the research plan
of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic,
MSM 0021622406 „Psychological and social characteristics of children, youth
and families, development of personality in the time of changes of modern
society”.
Reviewed by:
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Urbánek, Ph.D., Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences of
the Czech Republic
PhDr. Petr Květon, Ph.D., Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic
© Martina Čavnická, Jiří Dalajka, Martin Jelínek, Stanislav Ježek, Tomáš Kohoutek, Štěpán
Konečný, Lenka Lacinová, Petr Macek, Jan Mareš, Zuzana Masopustová, Radka
Michalčáková, Eva Polášková, Zuzana Sakařová, Lenka Stojanová Škarková, Jan Širůček,
Michaela Širůčková, Jan Vančura
© Masaryk University
Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth, and Family, Brno,
2008
ISBN 978-80-210-4755-6
71
9.
Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence
ZUZANA MASOPUSTOVÁ, RADKA MICHALČÁKOVÁ, LENKA LACINOVÁ &
STANISLAV JEŽEK
While an increased level of affective lability is typical for the early
adolescence, in mid adolescence emotions become more stable, mood
fluctuations fade away and experiencing becomes more differentiated.
Depressive symptoms can be observed as early as in children, but their
occurrence dramatically grows in adolescence, with culmination of these
phenomena being repeatedly found in mid adolescence (Sund, Larsson, &
Wichstrøm, 2001; Costello, Erkanli, & Angold, 2006; Gutman & Sameroff,
2004; Hankin et al., 1998). Signs of depression in adolescence are the same as
the signs of depression in adults (Lewinsohn, Pettit, Joiner, & Seeley, 2003).
The period of adolescence is full of developmental changes both in the
sphere of psychosocial and somatic development, thus a temporary increase
in depressive symptoms can be perceived as a natural phenomenon. However,
when it is observed in particular contexts (for instance, perception of
interparental conflict by adolescent, Davies & Windle 2001) it can be a sign of
maladaptation. Such increase in depressive symptomatology is classified as
problematic behavior of internalized type and it can be one of the indicators
of risk development. Control of contextual factors (e.g. unfavorable family
situation, occurrence of a traumatic event) is fundamental for the
specification and evaluation of depressive symptoms.
There are various contextual factors increasing the risk of depression
onset in adolescence. To mention at least a few: frequent moving, low SES,
small number of friends and high level of distressing life events (Sund &
Wichstrøm, 2002). Obviously, it is not only the presence of distressing life
events that determines the occurrence of depression. It is also in the way
adolescents perceives and evaluates them, and the way they experience
support from close people. Garber, Keiley, and Martin (2002) point out the
association between depressive symptomatology and attribution style.
Adolescents with a negative attribution style and with a tendency to negative
experiencing and attribution style have higher starting level of depressive
symptoms (judged by themselves and their mothers) than their peers with a
positive attribution style (Garber, Keiley, & Martin, 2002). Parents keep
playing an important role in the life of adolescents as well as does the kind of
support adolescent receives from them and what characterizes their mutual
relationship. The adolescents who experience a high level of distressing life
events, but at the same time perceive their family as giving extensive social
72
support, show less depressive symptoms than those adolescents perceiving
their family as less supporting (Licitra-Klecker & Waas, 1993). A higher level
of depressive symptomatology occurs in adolescents who feel they are being
refused by their father, or who feel an increased psychological control of their
mothers (Baron & MacGillivray, 1989).
On closer observation, the development of depressive symptoms in the
period of adolescence in relation to gender of respondents, according to
majority of research studies, girls show higher risk of depressive symptoms
prevalence than boys (Roberts, Lewinsohn, & Seeley, 1995; Wichstrøm, 1999;
Poulin, Hand, Boudreau, & Santor, 2005; Hankin, Marmelstein, & Roesch,
2007). Women generally develop depressive symptoms twice as often as men,
and this gender difference starts to show in the period of early adolescence
(Hankin et al.1998; Wade, Cairney, & Pevalin, 2002; Kuehner 2003). Except
for different prevalence, some studies also report differences in depressive
symptoms between both genders, although general validity of such
conclusions has not been accepted unanimously yet (Crowe, Ward,
Dunnachie, & Roberts, 2006).
The effort to explain differences in depression prevalence in girls and
boys has led, among others, to the issue of association between depression
and pubescent physical changes. The onset of increase in depressive
symptomatology approximately coincides with the onset of physical
adolescence and with the beginning of important changes in physical
appearance. Therefore, it is not surprising that the link between these two
phenomena is being often supported by research. Even here, important
differences between girls and boys have been found. As it has been shown
that the focus on body weight and dissatisfaction with it is an important risk
factor of depression onset in girls as early as in the early adolescence (Rierdan
& Koff, 1997) and that changes in body image have a greater influence on
depressive mood in girls than in boys (Siegel, 2002), the change of physical
scheme in girls can play quite an essential role in the onset of depressive
symptoms.
The ideal of feminine body in our society today is a slim body with
feminine features not being too pronounced, so it rather resembles childlike
girlish body than the body of a grown-up woman. However, physical
adolescence on the contrary, changes the girlish proportions to the feminine
ones, and thus the result of physical adolescence differs from this ideal of
beauty. Those young girls who experience an earlier onset of physical changes
than their peers are comparatively more often perceived (not only by
themselves, but also by people around them) as fat, although they may not be
overweight at all (White, Schliecker, Dyan 1991, as cited in Rierdan & Koff,
1997). A negative evaluation of physical appearance by their surroundings can
be than reflected in their own self-perception and may result in depressive
moods.
Risk behavior is often being mentioned in relation to depressive
symptoms prevalence. The coincidence of depressive symptoms with
73
delinquency is not obvious and is bound only with certain complex of
individual characteristics. Those adolescents who feel disappointment in their
expectations and behave in a manipulative way have ten times higher
probability of depressive symptoms occurrence together with a delinquent
behavior (Overbeek et al. 2006).
Choice and adaptation of the instrument
The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) originally comprises 34 items
surveying depressive symptoms in children and adolescents from 8 to 18 years
of age, and show a high convergent validity with Beck Depression Inventory
(r = .91). The scale is used for screening of depressive symptoms in clinical
and general population (Sund, Larsson, & Wichstrøm, 2001, 2003).
Respondents evaluate statements like „I’ve had a feeling that I am
useless,“ or „I’ve had a feeling that nobody likes me“ on a three-point scale
(yes, sometimes, never). They are instructed to consider their feelings over the
past two weeks.
With 13-year old respondents we used a shortened version of MFQ (16
items) adapted for use within a longitudinal research ALSPAC in Bristol
(Golding, 1996). Because of findings in a research study by Sund, Larsson a
Wichstrøm (2001), for 15-year old respondents we added 5 items from the
original MFQ giving best prediction as for the high and low scoring
respondents, and on the basis of the data analysis from age 13 we left out 6
low-discriminating items from the ALSPAC version.
Descriptive statistics
The scale of depression is calculated as a mean of all fifteen items, so the
theoretical range from 1 (minimum depression) to 3 (maximum depression)
follows the response scale for individual items. Descriptive statistics of this
scale are reported in tables 9.1 and 9.2.
As expected, the distribution of depression scores is extremely positively
skewed. Most of our respondents report only minimum of depressive
experiences – approximately 75% report occasional occurrence of roughly a
half of the 15 possible symptoms over part two weeks.
Table 9.1. Descriptive statistics of the depression scale (N = 552).
Scale Min Max M SD Skew Kurt
N of
items
Cronbach
Alpha
Depression 1.00 2.87 1.42 .36 1.39 1.95 15 .88
Table 9.2. Ordinal statistics of the depression scale (N = 552).
Scale
Percentiles
5 10 25 50 75 90 95
Depression 1.00 1.07 1.13 1.33 1.60 1.93 2.16
74
We have verified the dimensionality of the scale, too. Besides the unifactorial
congeneric (and equivalent) model that represents primary theoretical assumptions,
we tested also a two-factor model with correlated factors – individual emotional
symptoms and social evaluative symptoms. Due to the sharp skewness of all
variables we estimated the model using diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS)
in Lisrel 8.80 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2006). The summary of fit indices for
individual models can be found in the table 9.3.
In our opinion, the most suitable data model is the original unifactorial
congeneric model. In contrast to the much too strict equivalent model it offers a
satisfactory fit with the data. The fit of two-factor model is only marginally better.
Moreover, these two factors correlate .90 in a model. Though in the answers of
the respondents it is possible to distinguish between generally emotional reasons
for depressive expressions and reasons originating rather in social comparison,
interaction, the difference is very small and the question is, to what extent it is
utilizable.
Table 9.3. Summary of fit indices for the models of depression scale.
Model
2
/ S-B2
/df*)
P RMR RMSEA CFI AGFI H’s N**)
Unifactorial
congeneric
877/219/90 .00 .055 .051 .99 .99 313
Unifactorial
equivalent
2466/477/104 .00 .250 .081 .97 .82 163
Two-factor
correlated
768/189/89 .00 .050 .045 .99 .99 359
*) Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square, **) Hoelter’s N
Table 9.4. Structural coefficients of individual items in the unifactorial
congeneric model.
Item LX
I felt miserable. .71
I didn’t enjoy anything at all. .62
I was very restless. .49
I felt I was no good anymore. .83
I cried a lot. .62
I thought there was nothing good for me in the future. .67
I thought that life wasn’t worth living. .83
I thought my family would be better off without me. .79
I hated myself. .76
I felt I was a bad person. .67
I thought I looked ugly. .58
I felt lonely. .69
I thought nobody really loved me. .83
I thought I could never be as good as other kids. .66
I did everything wrong. .61
75
Conclusion
Presented results are in accordance with the purpose of this method
designed for screening of depressive symptoms within common population
of middle adolescents. The question remains, to what extent it is possible to
distinguish between a common distemper associated with adolescence as a
development period and possible depression.
References
Baron, P. & MacGillivray, R. G. (1989). Depressive symptoms in adolescents as a function
of perceived parental behavior. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4, 50 – 62.
Costello, E. J., Erkanli, A. & Angold, A. (2006). Is there an epidemic of child or adolescent
depression? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 1263 – 1271.
Crowe, M., Ward, N., Dunnachie, B., & Roberts, M. (2006): Characteristics of adolescent
depression. Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 10 –18.
Davies, P. T. & Windle, M. (2001). Interparental discord and adolescent adjustment
trajectories? The potentiating and protective role of interpersonal attributes. Child
Development, 72, 1163 – 1178.
Garber, J., Keiley, M. K., & Martin, N. C. (2002). Developmental trajectories of
adolescents’ depressive symptoms: Predictors of change. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 70, 79-95.
Golding J. (1996). The European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy & Childhood (ELSPAC). The
Survey, Development & Protocol. 4th Edition. Bristol: Bristol University.
Gutman, L. M., & Sameroff, A. J. (2004). Continuities in depression from adolescence to
young adulthood: Contrasting ecological influences. Development and Psychopathology,
16, 967-984.
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L.Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E.
(1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood:
Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology, 107, 128–140.
Hankin, B. L., Marmelstein, R., Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression:
Stress exposure and reactivity models. Child Development, 78, 279 – 295.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (2006). LISREL for Windows 8.80. Lincolnwood: Scientific
Software International, Inc.
Kuehner, C. (2003). Gender differences in unipolar depression: An update of
epidemiological findings and possible explanations. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 108,
163 – 174.
Lewinsohn, P. M., Pettit, J. W., Joiner T. E. Jr., & Seeley, J. R. (2003). The symptomatic
expression of major depressive disorder in adolescents and young adults. Journal of
Abnormal Psychology. 112, 244 – 252.
Licitra-Klecker, D. M. & Waas, G. M. (1993). Perceived social support among high-stress
adolescents: The role of peers and family. Journal of Adolescent Research, 8, 381 –402.
Overbeek, G., Biesecker, G., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., Meeus, W. & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2006).
Co-occurrence of depressive moods and delinquency in early adolescence: The role
of failure expectations, manipulativeness, and social contexts. International Journal of
Behavioral Development, 30, 433 – 443.
Poulin, Ch., Hand, D., Boudreau, B., & Santor, D. (2005). Gender differences in the
association between substance use and elevated depressive symptoms in a general
adolescent population. Addiction, 100, 525 – 535.
76
Rierdan, J. & Koff, E. (1997). Weight, weight-related aspects of body image, and
depression in early adolescent girls. Adolescence, 32, 615-624.
Roberts, R. E., Lewinsohn, P. M., & Seeley, J. R. (1995). Symptoms of DSM-III-R major
depression in adolescents: Evidence from an epidemiological survey. Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1608-1617.
Siegel, J. (2002). Body image change and adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of
Adolescent Research, 17, 27-41.
Sund, A. M., Larsson, B., & Wichstrøm, L. (2001). Depressive symptoms among young
Norwegian adolescents as measured by The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
(MFQ). Europen Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 10, 222 – 229.
Sund, A. M. & Wichstrøm, L. (2002). Insecure attachment as a risk factor for future
depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 1478-1485.
Sund, A. M., Larsson, B., & Wichstrøm, L. (2003). Psychosocial correlates of depressive
symptoms among 12-14-year-old Norwegian adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 44, 588–597.
Wade, T. J., Cairney, J., & Pevalin, D. J. (2002). Emergence of gender differences in
depression during adolescence: National panel results from three countries. Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 190 – 198.
White, D. R., Schliecker, E. & Dayan, J. (1991). Gender differences in categorizing
adolescents’ weight status. Psychological Reports, 68, 978.
Wichstrøm, L. (1999). The emergence of gender difference in depressed mood during
adolescence: The role of intensified gender socialization. Developmental Psychology, 35,
232 – 245.
140
Stanislav Ježek, Lenka Lacinová (Eds.)
Fifteen-year-olds in Brno: A Slice of Longitudinal Self-Reports
Published by Masaryk University in 2008
Supported by the research plan of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the
Czech Republic MSM0021622406
1st
edition, 2008 200 copies
Printed by MSD, spol. s r.o., Lidická 23, Brno
Cover design: Stanislav Ježek
ISBN 978-80-210-4755-6