Depression is a serious condition that affects a significant proportion of the population and causes substantial life impairment (Kessler et al., 2003). Cognitive models of depression vulnerability (e.g., Teasdale, 1988) posit that information processing biases for negative and positive stimuli play a critical role in the disorder. Change in negative thinking in response to dysphoric moods is referred to as cognitive reactivity and has been shown to be a risk factor for future increases in depression (e.g., Beevers & Carver, 2003; Segal et al., 2006). Interestingly, recent behavioral genetics research indicates that certain genes may influence cognitive factors associated with depression. The short allele of a polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with increased risk for depression in the context of life stress (Caspi et al., 2003); however, the psychological mechanisms that increase depression risk for short 5-HTTLPR allele-carriers have not been definitively identified. Recent work has begun to reveal an association between the 5-HTTLPR and cognitive factors associated with depression such as attention bias for emotional information (Beevers et al., 2007) and negative thinking style (Hayden et al., 2007). A pilot study (n = 156) revealed an association between 5-HTTLPR and cognitive reactivity for attention bias for happy faces. The current study (n = 180) extended and improved upon the pilot study’s methodology and examined the relationship between the 5-HTTLPR and cognitive reactivity for attention to sad and happy faces as well as cognitive reactivity for dysfunctional attitudes. Cognitive variables were assessed after a neutral mood induction and after a sad mood induction at two laboratory sessions separated by at least 24 hours. There was a significant association between the 5-HTTLPR and cognitive reactivity for attention bias for emotional faces among Caucasian participants. Specifically, the short allele was associated with increased bias for emotional faces after the sad mood induction compared to the neutral mood induction. There was a linear relationship between number of short alleles possessed by participants and increase in bias for emotional information. The 5-HTTLPR was not significantly associated with cognitive reactivity for dysfunctional attitudes, but the effect was in the expected direction. Results are discussed in the context of recent neuroimaging research and plasticity models of behavior genetics. Implications for a model of depression vulnerability integrating genetic, neural, and cognitive factors and future directions for similar behavioral genetics studies are discussed. / text

Depressive symptoms are more common among sedentary individuals with longitudinal studies supporting inactivity as a potential risk factor for mood disturbances. Observational and experimental designs find that lack of exercise or exercise deprivation is associated with increased depressive and anxiety symptoms, fatigue, and pain. However, literature has not examined risk factors influencing mood deterioration in response to exercise deprivation. The current study tested the hypothesis that physically active individuals with high levels of cognitive vulnerability (i.e., a tendency towards negative thought content and processes when under stress) are at high risk for mood disturbance when undergoing exercise cessation. Community adults who met guidelines for recommended physical activity (N=36) were examined in a 4-week prospective, longitudinal study. Mood was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Brief Profile of Mood States at baseline, after two weeks of maintained exercise, and after one and two weeks of exercise cessation. Cognitive vulnerability variables (i.e., dysfunctional attitudes, brooding rumination, cognitive reactivity) were assessed following the maintained exercise phase. Similar to prior studies, results indicated a main effect of time, such that depressive and anxiety symptoms increased over the exercise cessation protocol. Results additionally lend support for a vulnerability-stress model, with brooding rumination identified as a risk factor for the development of symptoms during exercise deprivation. This study suggests that individuals who engage in brooding rumination to cope with negative affect are at elevated risk for mood symptoms when ceasing their exercise routine.

Cognitive vulnerabilities have been implicated in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorders, two disorders that commonly co-occur. The comorbidity of these two disorders continues to pose a significant threat to the well being of university students. This study investigated the associations between the cognitive vulnerability of negative attributional style and both post-traumatic stress symptoms and alcohol use patterns. The number of reported traumatic events were also included in analyses. A battery of self-report questionnaires was completed by 123 university undergraduate students (mean age of 20.41 years). Negative attributional style was found to be significantly associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms, but not with alcohol use. It was also suggested that multiple traumas have an impact on post-traumatic stress, despite levels of alcohol use. These results suggested that the cognitive vulnerability of negative attributional style is predictive of posttraumatic stress in students and research in this area is valuable for increasing resilience, prevention and recovery among trauma survivors. Recommendations for future research, especially concerning multiple traumatisation is discussed.

Given that depression risk intensifies in adolescence, examining the course of depressive symptoms during the shift from childhood to adolescence is important for expanding knowledge about the etiology of depression. From a cognitive-developmental perspective, this study examined the stability of both positive and negative schemas in adolescence and whether these schemas could prospectively predict depressive symptoms and resilience in youth. One hundred ninety-eight participants (48 percent boys, 52 percent girls) between the ages of 9 and 14 were recruited from 4 elementary schools to complete measures of youth depressive symptoms, resilience, and schema content and organization. Those who consented to be re-contacted for a follow-up study were contacted one to three years later to complete the same measures online. The Time 2 sample consisted of 50 participants (54 percent boys, 46 percent girls). Negative and positive schema content and structure were stable over time. Depressive symptoms at Time 2 were hypothesized to be predicted by strong negative and weak positive schema content, tightly interconnected negative schema organization, and loosely interconnected positive schema organization at Time 1. The opposite patterns of association were hypothesized between schema content and structure and resilience. After controlling for age, sex and depressive symptoms /resilience at Time 1, negative schema content was the only significant predictor of depressive symptoms and resilience at Time 2. Implications for cognitive theories and clinical practice are discussed. / Ontario Mental Health Foundation

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In this study, I tested predictions of the Behavioral Approach System (BAS) model as applied to the course of bipolar spectrum disorders. In this model, when a vulnerable individual experiences a BAS activation-relevant event, the weak regulatory strength of the BAS interacts with pre-event BAS state and is likely to lead to hypomania/mania. In contrast, when a vulnerable individual experiences a BAS deactivation-relevant event, the weak regulatory strength of the BAS interacts with pre- event BAS state and is likely to lead to depression. A secondary goal of this study involved comparing the BAS model to the cognitive-vulnerability stress model of bipolar disorder. Toward this end, data from a sample of 217 individuals (112 individuals with a diagnosis in the bipolar spectrum and 105 demographically similar, normal controls) participating in the Longitudinal Investigation of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (LIBS) Project, a two-site prospective examination of the role of BAS, cognitive styles, and life events in the course of bipolar disorders among college students, were analyzed. The results of this study suggest that there is some support for both the BAS model and the cognitive-vulnerability stress model. Specifically, BAS-relevant cognitive styles, in interaction with congruent positive life events, predicted hypomanic episodes. There was less support for either model in the prediction of depression. There was some support for BAS sensitivity and BAS-relevant events each predicting the course of bipolar disorder. However, there was no support for the interaction of BAS sensitivity and BAS-relevant events predicting the type and number of mood episodes. As such, this study found more support for a BAS-related cognitive vulnerability-stress model, as compared to the "pure" BAS model, as applied to bipolar spectrum disorders. Following a review of the results, strengths and limitations, as well as clinical implications and potential future research directions are discussed. / Psychology

Although there is a substantial amount of evidence documenting the stress generation effect in depression (i.e., the tendency for depression-prone individuals to experience higher rates of stressful life events that are in part influenced by the individual), additional research is required to elucidate its underlying mechanisms as well as to advance current understanding of the specific types of dependent life stresses (i.e., events influenced by characteristics and attendant behaviors of the individual) relevant to this effect. The present study proposed an extension of the stress generation hypothesis, in which the content of dependent stresses that are produced by depression-prone individuals is contingent upon, and matches, the nature of their particular vulnerability. This extension was tested within the context of the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) and Cole's (1990, 1991) competency-based model of depression. Also assessed were the specificity of excessive reassurance-seeking and negative feedback-seeking to stress generation in social domains and as potential mediators or moderators of the relation between cognitive vulnerability and dependent stress. General support was found for vulnerability-specific stress generation. Specifically, in analyses across vulnerability domains, evidence of relational specificity was found for all domain-specific cognitive vulnerabilities with the exception of self-perceived social competence. In analyses within cognitive vulnerability domains, support for the specificity hypothesis was found for self-perceived competence in academic and appearance domains. The within-domain analyses for negative inferential styles in achievement, interpersonal, and appearance domains produced more mixed results, but were largely supportive. Additionally, excessive reassurance-seeking was found specifically to predict dependent stress in the social domain, and moderated, but did not mediate, the relation between negative inferential styles overall and in the interpersonal domain and their corresponding generated stress. Finally, no evidence was found for a stress generation effect with negative feedback-seeking. / Psychology

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The maturation and consolidation of executive functions, including cognitive flexibility, attentional control, goal-setting, and information processing, continues throughout adolescence. Cognitive vulnerabilities to depression, such as rumination on negative affect, negative cognitive style, and hopelessness, also emerge as stable risk-factors for depression during this time. Emerging evidence suggests these vulnerabilities may be associated with alterations in executive functioning, and with cognitive maturation. The current study explores the association between trajectories of executive development and cognitive vulnerabilities to depression using a person-centered characterization of latent classes of growth trajectories. Classes of adolescent cognitive development in working memory, selective attention, sustained attention, switching, and divided attention, were derived, and class associations with cognitive vulnerabilities were probed. The results showed that most executive domains have a normative majority with typical growth and low levels of cognitive vulnerability. Minority classes, representing atypical growth, were differentially related to cognitive vulnerability. Contrary to hypotheses, better cognitive development was generally associated with higher levels of cognitive vulnerability, specifically internal, stable, and self-worth dimensions of negative cognitive style. Several exceptions included classes whose trajectory suggested developmental regression; consistent with hypotheses, these classes also demonstrated higher levels of negative cognitive style. Results support a model in which cognitive development scaffolds the maturation of negative cognitive style. / Psychology