Stress-related risk factors for depression in girls

Major depression is a frequent psychiatric disorder among adolescents. Stress-related approaches to adolescent depression postulate acute or chronic stressors as a cause of as well as a consequence of depressive symptomatology. Stress situations persist because the child uses mainly unfavorable stress-coping strategies. The present study investigates stress-related risk factors for the maintenance of depression in 68 young girls in a longitudinal design with two measurement points. Stress load and stress coping were assessed by the Fragebogen zur Erhebung von Stress und Stressbewaltigung im Kindes- und Jugendalter (SSKJ). Data on stress-induced salivary cortisol and cortisol-awakening response at first measurement point were also available. A logistic regression model tested the relative contribution of stress-related risk factors. Significant effects were obtained for avoidant coping, a high psychological stress load, and a high stress vulnerability, while physical complaints and cortisol were not relevant. These results confirm theories that postulate stress load and stress coping as causal links for maintenance of depression in youth.