Self-cognitions, stressful events, and the prediction of depression in children of depressed mothers

Abstract

In a preliminary effort to integrate cognitive, life stress, and interpersonal approaches to vulnerability to depression, children's cognitions about themselves, their stressful life events, and the interaction of self-cognitions and life events were tested as predictors of depression. Children of normal, medically ill, and bipolar and unipolar depressed mothers were assessed initially and 6 months later for diagnostic status using the Kiddie-SADS interview. As predicted, Piers-Harris self-concept scores and interview-assessed children's stressful life events significantly predicted changes in depression status over the 6-month follow-up. Stressors and the interaction of stressors and self-concept also predicted changes in diagnosis of nonaffective disorders. A self-schema measure of accessibility of negative self-cognitions, known to be mood-dependent, failed to add to the prediction of depression severity. The results are consistent with a model of depression vulnerability that emphasizes cognition about self-worth and self-efficacy as mediators of the impact of stressful events, and we speculate that such self-schemas are acquired in part in the context of parent-child relationships. Recommendations are given for further studies of the acquisition and the mechanisms of self-schemas.