title: A cognitive-interpersonal approach to depressive symptoms in preadolescent children.
abstract: Cognitive and interpersonal aspects of depressive symptoms were investigated in a community sample of children. Eighty-one 8- to 12-year-olds completed scales assessing cognitive representations of social relationships and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Teachers provided ratings of peer rejection. Children with elevated levels of depressive symptoms displayed increased negativity in their beliefs about self, family, and peers, as well as distinct patterns of interpersonal information processing. Anxiety symptoms did not make a unique contribution beyond depression to negative representations of family and peers; in contrast, symptom-specific profiles of self-representations were found. Structural equation analysis supported a model linking negative interpersonal representations, peer rejection, and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that future studies may benefit from approaches that incorporate both cognitive and interpersonal variables as predictors of child depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign 61820, USA.
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Rudolph
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hammen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burge
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support