The role of negative thinking in the onset and maintenance of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents

Since Beck (1967; 1976), cognitive approaches have become highly influential in
the conceptualization and treatment of depression.
In the past decade, rumination, defined as self-focused, persistent, recyclic,
negative thinking, has been linked to depression. In the Response Styles Theory
(Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), two ways of coping with depressive complaints are
posited: rumination and distraction. Emotion-focused rumination has been
implicated in the severity and prolongation of depressive moods, while
distraction seems to elevate depressive mood. A good deal of research had
provided support for this theory of depression, in adults, as well as in
children and adolescents.
A conceptual extension of the response styles theory has been proposed to link
rumination to the onset of depressive symptoms (stress-reactive rumination). In
this extension, Robinson and Alloy (2003) found that stress-reactive rumination
interacts with negative attributional style in the predicition of the onset of
depression scores in healthy undergraduates. It is unknown whether these
results generalize to children and adolescents.
Another form of negative thinking is worrying, which has originally been linked
to anxiety, but also has shown to be related to depression. Unknown is which
form of negative thinking, rumination of worrying, is the strongest predictor
of depressive complaints.

The aim of the current research proposal is to fill a gap in our knowledge of
the role of negative thinking in the development of depressive symptoms in
children and adolescents.

1. To what extent does stress-reactive rumination, attributional style and
life events seperately and in combination with each other predict the onset of
depressive symptoms in children and adolescents, correcting for worrying,
perceived control, neuroticism, parental rearing styles, attachment to parents
and peers, pubertal status, age and gender?
2. To what extent is emotion-focused rumination a predictor of the maintenance
of depressieve symptoms in children and adolescents, correcting for worrying,
perceived control, neuroticism, parental rearing styles, attachment to parents
and peers, pubertal status, age and gender?

The specifity of rumination in predicting depressive symptoms will be examined
by conducting the same sequence of analyses with anxiety as dependent variable.

Increasing our knowledge of the role of negative thinking in the prediction of
depressive symptoms in children and adolescents may lead to more effective
prevention programs and treatments.

A three-year longitudinal study will be performed, including a baseline and
three follow-up assessments. The sets of questionnaires will be placed on a
specially designed website. Subjects who agree to participate will receive a
username and password, with which they gain access to the website. The
measurements used in this study are the CRRS, SRRS, PSWQ, CDI, STAI-C, RCADS
(short version), CSQ, CLES, IPPA-C (short version), EMBU-C-40, PCS, EPQ-N and
PDS for the children and adolescents.
The parents of the subjects are also asked to participate in our investigation.
Following the same procedure, they will complete the SRRS, RSQ, EMBU-A, STAI
and BDI each year for a three year-period.
When subjects do not have access to internet, they will receive paper version
questionnaires.

It concerns a longitudinal study with a three-year follow-up.
The children and adolescents will complete a set of about 15 self-report
measures once a year. Each fill-in session will take them about an hour.
The parents will be asked to participate in this investigation as well. Their
participation consists of completing a set of five short self-report
questionnaires, which will take about 30 minutes of their time.
There are no risks involved.