title: Reducing risk for anxiety and depression in adolescents: Effects of a single-session intervention teaching that personality can change.
abstract: Efforts to reduce youth mental health problems have advanced greatly but have not lowered overall rates of youth mental illness. Thus, a need exists for disseminable, mechanism-targeted approaches to reducing risk of youth psychopathology. Accordingly, we conducted a randomized-controlled trial testing whether a single-session intervention teaching growth personality mindsets (the belief that personality is malleable) reduced known risk factors for anxiety and depression in adolescents experiencing or at risk for internalizing problems (N = 96, ages 12-15). Compared to a supportive-therapy control, a 30-min computer-guided mindset intervention strengthened adolescents' perceived control; this improvement was associated with increases in growth mindsets. Further, electrodermal activity recovery slopes showed that youths receiving the mindset intervention recovered from a lab-based social stressor over three times as fast as control group youths. Improvements in growth mindsets and perceived control were linked with faster stress recovery. Results suggest a disseminable strategy for reducing internalizing problem risk among adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: jschleider@fas.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Schleider
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Weisz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Adolescence; Anxiety; Depression; Intervention; Mediation; Mindset; Youth