Impact of chronic stress on emotional disorders

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study will analyze data collected as part of a larger 4-year prospective longitudinal study of adolescents at risk for mood and anxiety disorders. Across two sites, high school juniors were recruited in the fall of three consecutive years. Both interview and self-report measures have been ascertained on life stress, putative diatheses for depression (neuroticism, negative inferential style, and dysfunctional attitudes), and internalizing psychopathology. Unlike the larger study, the central goals of the proposed line of research focus on the impact of chronic stressors on internalizing psychopathology. Two goals of the proposed study are to establish the domains of ongoing chronic stressors that are most strongly related to internalizing psychopathology during adolescence and to broaden our understanding of the relationship between chronic stressors and acute life events. Additional analyses entail growth curve modeling to examine how chronic and acute stressors impact the mean level and rate of change of symptoms of anxiety and depression over time. Structural equation models will examine the temporal sequencing among stress predictors, mediational relationships between predictors and outcome, and bidirectional influences. The proposed research will help elucidate the potency of chronic stressors in the development of internalizing psychopathology, thus extending current etiological models and suggesting key domains for intervention.