Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-122). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-218). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Previous research demonstrates a marked increase in the occurrence of depression during adolescence, particularly for females. Theorists contend that this phenomenon is associated with the development of beliefs about the self, world, and future (known as the cognitive triad), which constitutes a potential cognitive vulnerability to depression. Research has also demonstrated that family characteristics, such as cohesion, communication, conflict, social/recreational activity, parental messages, parental modeling of beliefs, and maternal depression are all related to depression and the development of depressive cognitions. The purpose of the current study was to build upon previous literature on family and cognitive correlates of depression in youth and analyze specific cognitive-interpersonal pathways to depression for girls transitioning from childhood to adolescence. 165 girls ranging in age from 8 to 14 participated in the study, along with their mothers. Participants completed self-report measures of family environment, beliefs about the self, world, and future, and perceived parental messages regarding the cognitive triad. Mothers completed a self-report measure of psychopathology and an instrument assessing their beliefs about the self, world, and future. Participants also completed a diagnostic interview, which served as the primary measure of depressive symptoms. As found in similar studies and consistent with Beck's theory of depression, daughter's reports of cognitive triad predicted the severity of her depressive symptoms. Moreover, the cognitive triad was found to be the mediating variable in the model; family variables affected daughter's beliefs, which then affected depressive symptomology. Specifically, girls who endorsed higher family conflict, lower social/recreational activity, and more negative parental messages reported more negative cognitive styles and subsequently higher levels of depression. Further results indicated that daughter's beliefs about the self and parent's messages about the future are particularly important factors in this model of depression. Contrary to what was expected, mother's reports of depression and cognitive triad did not predict daughter's cognitive triad or depressive symptoms. Implications of these results and recommendations for future research are provided.

Rates of depression have been observed to increase markedly during adolescence. In addition, depression rates for adolescent girls have been reported to be up to twice those of boys. A wide variety of factors have been proposed to account for these changes, including psychological factors derived from cognitive theories of depression. Such theories have often awarded an important contributory role to a negative self-concept. In the meantime, research in child and adolescent development has revealed that the self-concept undergoes profound changes during adolescence, and that these changes affect boys and girls differently. Thus the significant sex difference in rates of depression occurring in adolescence appear to develop against the backdrop of significant structural and evaluative developmental changes in the self-concept that appear to differentially affect adolescent girls and boys. The current research project was aimed at examining the roles of two aspects of the self-concept proposed to be involved in the development of depressive symptoms and clinically significant episodes of depression in adolescence, namely: self-complexity and contingency of self-worth. These constructs were selected based on their empirically demonstrated relationship with depression in youth or adults, as well as their relationship with changes occurring in the self-concept during early adolescence. In order to examine the roles of self-complexity and contingency of self-worth, a large community sample of early adolescents was recruited and followed for a period of two years. During this period, participants were contacted to monitor changes in depressive symptoms, the occurrence of negative life events, and the onset of clinically significant episodes of depression. Results reveal that self-complexity best predicted depressive outcomes when deconstructed into its positive and negative components. Moreover, negative self-complexity successfully predicted the prospective onset of clinically significant episodes of major depression. In regards to the contingency of self-worth, results supported a previous self-worth contingency model of depression, but suggest that this conceptualization cannot account entirely for the phenomenology of depression in adolescence. Two additional conceptualizations of contingent self-worth were proposed and supported. Sex differences were observed. Results were interpreted within a cognitive vulnerability framework.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-127). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Psychology. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/12). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-155)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-228).