Bidirectional Relationships Between Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Vulnerabilities in Adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is a highly prevalent problem in adolescence, with great clinical and social relevance. Recent models of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence underscore that the relationships between stress, cognitive vulnerabilities, and depressive symptoms are bidirectional. In addition, according to cognitive therapy models, cognitive vulnerabilities are organized hierarchically, with deep schemas guiding more superficial cognitive processes such as rumination. The present study examines the longitudinal predictive relationships between two levels of cognitions (early maladaptive schemas and rumination), stressors, and depression. Method: A sample of 584 Spanish adolescents (262 girls; mean age = 15.99, SD = 1.10) completed measures of depression, stressors, rumination, and three early maladaptive schema domains (disconnection and rejection, impaired autonomy and other-directedness) over 4 intervals of 4 months. Path analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. Results: Disconnection and rejection domain systematically predicted an increase in depression, new stressors, and rumination over time. In addition, depressive symptoms predicted an increase of disconnection/rejection scores at all time points. Finally, from Time 2 on, stressors predicted an increase in all schema domains. Discussion: The outcomes suggest the importance of the disconnection and rejection schema domain. These results are important to understand the mechanisms underlying stress and depression in adolescents.