Cognitive and Biological Predictors of Depressive Symptomology in a Diverse Sample of New York City Adolescents
Abstract
Adolescence is a period marked by tremendous emotional, physiological, and cognitive change and growth. For some youth depressive symptoms emerge during a time marked with biological and social changes, which may result in lasting negative consequences for mental and physical health trajectories. Little research has focused on integrating multiple factors into a single, developmentally appropriate model. Guided by the affective, biological, and cognitive (ABC) model of depression, direct and indirect mechanisms of depressive symptoms are examined in a sample of primarily low-income and racial minority youth through path analysis. Pathways from our biological predictors, pubertal status and testosterone, are mediated differentially through affective and cognitive mechanisms of inhibitory control, emotion regulation, and dispositional optimism. Further, affective and cognitive development displays heightened sensitivity to contextual stressors which may increase vulnerability to depressive symptoms at a critical developmental timepoint.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Developmental psychology|Cognitive psychology
Recommended Citation
Barry, Kelly, "Cognitive and Biological Predictors of Depressive Symptomology in a Diverse Sample of New York City Adolescents" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI27958922.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI27958922
