Dataset Information

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Stressful life events are known to contribute to development of depression; however, it is possible this link is bidirectional. The present study examined whether such stress generation effects are greater than the effects of stressful life events on depression, and whether stress generation is also evident with anxiety.

Design

Participants were two large age cohorts (N = 732 aged 44 years; N = 705 aged 63 years) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study.

Methods

Stressful life events, depression, and anxiety symptoms were measured twice five years apart. Cross-lagged panel analysis examined the mutual influences of stressful life events on depression and on anxiety over time.

Results

Life events predicted later depressive symptomatology (p = .01), but the depression predicting life events relationship was less strong (p = .06), whereas earlier anxiety predicted life events five years later (p = .001). There was evidence of sex differences in the extent to which life events predicted later anxiety.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence of stress causation for depression and weaker evidence for stress generation. In contrast, there was strong evidence of stress generation for anxiety but weaker evidence for stress causation, and that differed for men and women.

SUBMITTER: Phillips AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4772121 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

Phillips Anna C AC Carroll Douglas D Der Geoff G

Anxiety, stress, and coping 20150205 4

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Stressful life events are known to contribute to development of depression; however, it is possible this link is bidirectional. The present study examined whether such stress generation effects are greater than the effects of stressful life events on depression, and whether stress generation is also evident with anxiety.<h4>Design</h4>Participants were two large age cohorts (N = 732 aged 44 years; N = 705 aged 63 years) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study. ...[more]

PMID: 25572915

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Project description:Previous studies have demonstrated an association between negative life events (NLEs) in childhood and resilience/posttraumatic growth (PTG) with regard to the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. We hypothesized that the type and timing of NLEs interact to influence mental health in the general youth population. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effects of NLE timing and intensity on current depressive symptoms, and to determine the direct and indirect effects of NLEs/resilience on PTG and depression among non-clinical adolescents. Data were collected from 1,038 high-school students across seven high schools in Fukui, Japan, during their freshman and sophomore years (648 boys and 390 girls, mean age = 15.71, SD = 0.524). Respondents completed a set of questionnaires designed to evaluate the type and timing of NLEs, depressive and traumatic symptoms, and PTG. Cluster analysis was used to divide participants into three groups based on outcomes: "cluster 1" (n = 631), for whom depressive scores were significantly lower than other two subgroups (p < 0.05, for both); "cluster 2" (n = 52), for whom levels of current and past perceived stress associated with NLEs were significantly higher than those of the other two subgroups (p < 0.05, for both); "cluster 3" (n = 374), for whom perceived stress at the time of NLE was significantly higher than that of participants in the cluster 1 (p < 0.05) group, but not the cluster 2 group. Our findings indicated that exposure to NLEs at a younger age resulted in stronger negative outcomes and that NLE timing and intensity were associated with PTG and current symptoms of depression. Furthermore, path analysis demonstrated that associations between perceived stress at the time of NLEs were direct and indirect predictors of current depression via PTG and that posttraumatic stress symptom and PTG mediate the association between NLEs/trait-resiliency and current depression. In conclusion, our findings suggest that event intensity, NLE timing, and gender may play a role in emotional vulnerability during adolescence.

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Dataset Information

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

Background and objectives

Design

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

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