Positive Affect in Middle Childhood: Associations with Mothers' History of Depression 公开

Abstract

Children of mothers with a history of depression are at elevated risk for depression. Reduced positive affect (PA) may represent a vulnerability to depression. The rate of depression increases in adolescence, albeit specifically for females. Thus, middle childhood may be an important developmental period for understanding PA as a vulnerability to depression. Forbes and Dahl (2005) proposed a model in which PA is characterized by four features: behavioral, hedonic, motivational, and physiologic. Yet most studies have examined only one or two of these features of PA in relation to childhood risk for depression. The current study built upon the literature by examining all four features of PA. We investigated the extent to which a sample of 131 8 to 10 year-old children with and without a maternal history of depression differed in terms of each feature of PA. We expected that children of mothers with a history of depression would show lower PA across features relative to controls. We further expected that associations between maternal depression history and PA would be stronger for females than for males. Lastly, we explored the extent to which mothers' current depressive symptom level accounted for additional variance in PA. To test these hypotheses, we took a multi-method approach that included: self-reports, observed affect coding, performance on a behavioral monetary reward task, and physiologic measures (EEG and RSA). Analyses failed to support the hypothesis that mothers' history of depression would be associated with child PA or that the association would be stronger for females. Females reported higher hedonic PA, although there were no other significant sex differences. Mothers' current symptom levels did not contribute to the prediction of child PA beyond other variables in the model. Results are discussed in terms of potential methodological and developmental implications as well as directions for future research.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction ………………………………………………………….…….1

II. Methods……………………………………………………………….…..12

III. Results ………………………………………………………………......20

IV. Discussion ……………………………………………………………….23

V. References ………………………………………………………………..29

VI. Footnotes ……………………………………………………..……...…38

VII. Tables….……………………………………………………..……..…..39

VIII. Appendix……………………………………………………………….44

List of Tables

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics According to Maternal Depression History

Table 2. Mean Scores, Standard Deviations, and t-tests for the Differences between Children With and Without a Maternal History of Depression on Features of Child PA

Table 3. Associations between Current Maternal Depression Symptoms And Child PA Variables

Table 4. Results of Multiple Moderated Regression Analysis

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Degree	MA
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Clinical
关键词	middle childhood maternal depression positive affect
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Goodman, Sherryl H, Emory University
Committee Members	Brennan, Patricia, Emory University Fivush, Robyn, Emory University

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