The role of temperament in symptoms of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents
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Zilber, Irene.
The role of temperament in symptoms of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T34F1SMSExport
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TitleThe role of temperament in symptoms of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents
Date Created2015
Other Date2015-05 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (viii, 57 p. : ill.)
DescriptionSymptoms of depression and symptoms of anxiety are reported at various levels of severity among children and adolescents. Various risk or vulnerability factors may contribute to the etiology of symptoms of depression and anxiety in childhood and adolescence. However, what renders some children and adolescents more likely to experience symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, and at different levels of severity, remains to be explored. Moreover, it is important to address the specificity of vulnerability factors in determining risk for depression and anxiety, which are often reported to co-occur. Temperament and its components have been posited to be vulnerability factors and to have a temporal association with the onset of symptoms of psychopathology during childhood and adolescence. In this study, temperament constructs of Negative Emotionality, Affiliativeness, and Effortful Control were examined in their association with symptoms of depression and anxiety, among children and adolescents. Negative Emotionality was consistently found to be associated with higher levels of symptoms of depression, and separately with symptoms of anxiety, particularly among older children and adolescents. Affiliativeness and Effortful Control were found to be associated with higher levels of symptoms of depression only. In summary, older ages of children/adolescents, higher levels of Negative Emotionality, higher levels of Affiliativeness, and lower levels of Effortful Control were associated with higher levels of symptoms of depression. Higher levels of Negative Emotionality were associated with higher levels of symptoms of anxiety, particularly among older children and adolescents. Therefore, Negative Emotionality may be a non-specific vulnerability factor for the association with depression and anxiety symptoms, while Affiliativeness and Effortful Control may be specific vulnerability factors for the association with symptoms of depression only. Implications of the current findings, limitations of the study, and future directions are discussed.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Irene Zilber
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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