title: Gender differences in emotional reactivity of depressed and at-risk preschoolers: implications for gender specific manifestations of preschool depression.
abstract: We investigated whether differences in positive and negative emotional reactivity could be found in depressed preschoolers and preschoolers at risk for later internalizing symptoms relative to nondepressed/low risk comparison groups. Observational measures of emotional reactivity, used to derive a score of the balance between anger and sadness, were obtained and analyzed in independent samples. One study utilized cross-sectional data from preschoolers (M age = 4.6 years) with a current depressive syndrome and two nondepressed comparison groups. The other study utilized longitudinal data that assessed emotional reactivity at preschool age (M age = 4.5 years) and later mental health symptoms during the transition to primary school, allowing a retrospective determination of risk. Depressed and at-risk boys displayed more anger than sadness in contrast to girls in the same groups and in contrast to no disorder/low-risk controls. This finding was detected in depressed and "at risk for internalizing" boys who were not comorbid for externalizing problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. lubyj@msnotes.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Luby
authors.forename: Marilyn J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Essex
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Marjorie H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zahn-Waxler
authors.forename: Jill P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: H Hill
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000786:Anger; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors