title: What is the contribution of different cognitive biases and stressful childhood events to the presence and number of previous depressive episodes?
abstract: Negative cognitive biases as well as stressful childhood events are well-known risk factors for depression. Few studies have compared the association of different types of biases and events with depression. The current study examined whether different cognitive biases and stressful childhood events variables were associated with depression and recurrence. Three types of childhood events were assessed in 83 never-depressed and 337 formerly depressed individuals: trauma within the family, trauma outside the family, and adverse events. Furthermore, after a sad mood induction procedure, participants executed a Dot Probe task (selective attentional bias), an Emotional Stroop task (attentional interference bias) and an incidental learning task (memory bias). The association of these measures with case status and recurrence status (one or multiple past episodes) was examined. Negative memory bias and traumatic childhood events within the family were associated with case status, whereas none of the bias measures or childhood events variables were associated with recurrence status. The results indicate that memory bias as well as the experience of aggression and/or abuse within the family during childhood are independently associated with depression. Biases and stressful childhood events did not offer differentiation between individuals with one or multiple past episodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Janna.Vrijsen@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Janna N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Vrijsen
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eni S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University, Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arias-Vásquez
authors.affiliation: HSK Group, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maarten K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Speckens
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Iris van
authors.initials: Iv
authors.lastname: Oostrom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Childhood trauma; Depression; Memory bias; Processing bias; Risk factors; Stress