Developmental pathway for first onset of depressive disorders in females: from adolescence to emerging adulthood.

BACKGROUND: Although risk markers for depressive disorders (DD) are dynamic, especially during adolescence, few studies have examined how change in risk levels during adolescence predict DD onset during transition to adulthood. We compared two competing hypotheses of the dynamic effects of risk. The risk escalation hypothesis posits that worsening of risk predicts DD onset beyond risk level. The chronic risk hypothesis posits that persistently elevated risk level, rather than risk change, predicts DD onset. METHODS: Our sample included 393 girls (baseline age 13.5-15.5 years) from the adolescent development of emotions and personality traits project. Participants underwent five diagnostic interviews and assessments of risk markers for DD at 9-month intervals and were re-interviewed at a 6-year follow-up. We focused on 17 well-established risk markers. For each risk marker, we examined the prospective effects of risk level and change on first DD onset at wave six, estimated by growth curve modeling using data from the first five waves. RESULTS: For 13 of the 17 depression risk markers, elevated levels of risk during adolescence, but not change in risk, predicted first DD onset during transition to adulthood, supporting the chronic risk hypothesis. Minimal evidence was found for the risk escalation hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Participants who had a first DD onset during transition to adulthood have exhibited elevated levels of risk throughout adolescence. Researchers and practitioners should administer multiple assessments and focus on persistently elevated levels of risk to identify individuals who are most likely to develop DD and to provide targeted DD prevention.

Vigilance-Avoidance Toward Negative Faces in Social Anxiety With and Without Comorbid Depression.

Despite the growing evidence for the attentional bias toward emotional related stimuli in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), it remains unclear how the attentional bias manifests in normal individuals with SAD and/or depressive traits. To address this question, we recruited three groups of normal participants with different psychiatric traits-individuals with comorbid SAD and depression (SADd, N = 19), individuals with only SAD (SAD, N = 15), and healthy control individuals (HC, N = 19). In a dot-probe paradigm, participants view angry, disgusted, and sad face stimuli with durations ranging from very brief (i.e., 14ms) that renders stimuli completely intangible, to relatively long (i.e., 2000ms) that guarantees image visibility. We find significant early vigilance (i.e., on brief stimuli) and later avoidance (i.e., on long stimuli) toward angry faces in the SADd group. We also find vigilance toward angry and disgusted faces in the SAD group. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to unify both vigilance and avoidance within the same experimental paradigm, providing direct evidence for the "vigilance-avoidance" theory of comorbid SAD and depression. In sum, these results provide evidence for the potential behavioral differences induced by anxiety-depression comorbidity and a single trait in non-clinical populations, but the lack of a depression-only group cannot reveal the effects of high levels of depression on the results. The limitations are discussed.

The Influence of Intolerance of Uncertainty on Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Chinese-speaking Samples: Structure and Validity of The Chinese Translation of The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale.

Few studies evaluated the structure of the short versions of the Chinese translation of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS) among Chinese-speaking individuals. Meanwhile, contemporary theory of IU has emphasized the role of IU as the basic transdiagnostic mechanism underlying emotional disorders, and further empirical support is awaited. Thus, the current research aimed to examine the structure of the IUS (Chinese translation) and the hierarchical model of IU. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare fit of the two-factor and bifactor models of the original and short versions (IUS-18 and IUS-12) of the IUS (Chinese translation) among Chinese-speaking samples of adults. The direct effects of IU and indirect effects of IU via neuroticism on anxiety and depression symptoms were examined using structural equation modeling. All IUS models demonstrated acceptable fit. Using the bifactor model of the IUS-12 (Chinese translation), the hierarchical model of IU affecting anxiety and depression via neuroticism was supported. The prospective and inhibitory IU factors performed differently in relating to emotional vulnerabilities and symptoms. We provide suggestions for measuring and modeling IU, and the role of IU as the basic transdiagnostic vulnerability was suggested in Chinese-speaking samples.

Trait anxiety is associated with a decreased visual working memory capacity for faces.

Recent work has suggested that anxiety restricts working memory capacity, which may underlie a wide range of cognitive symptoms in anxiety. However, previous literature on the anxiety-visual working memory association yielded mixed results, with some studies demonstrating an anxiety-related increase in visual working memory capacity. In an attempt to gain a more thorough understanding of the relationship between anxiety and visual working memory maintenance function, the current study examined the influence of trait anxiety on visual working memory capacity and resolution for negative, positive, and neutral faces in a large unselected sample, by conducting two different experiments. Experiment 1 used a change-detection task to estimate visual working memory capacity, while Experiment 2 used a modified time-delay estimation task to measure memory precision. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the relationship between trait anxiety, emotional valence, and visual working memory. Results showed that trait anxiety was associated with decreased visual working memory capacity for faces in a valence-independent manner, whereas anxiety-related change in visual working memory resolution was not significant. This pattern of results was discussed in light of the theories of anxiety and visual working memory.

The influence of uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty on anxiety.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although the influence of uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) on anxiety pathologies has been well-established, only a few studies examined the interaction between uncertainty and IU in producing anxiety. Meanwhile, there is a lack of research utilizing experimental methods to manipulate the situational uncertainty. Therefore, the current study aimed to more systematically investigate whether and how trait IU interacted with uncertainty in the production of anxiety. METHODS: the current study examined the influence of threat-related uncertainty and IU on anxiety in a lab setting. A variant of the threat-of-shock paradigm was employed to manipulate the uncertainty level. State anxiety and worry were measured immediately before and after this manipulation. Hierarchical linear modeling was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that trait IU contributed to elevated state anxiety and worry. Meanwhile, when under imminent threat, uncertainty provoked increased worry but exerted limited influence on state anxiety. The interaction effect of uncertainty and IU on anxiety was not evident in this study. LIMITATIONS: Results were based on a non-clinical sample rather than individuals with clinical diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Uncertainty could be regarded as a trigger of worrying thoughts, while IU is an important cognitive vulnerability factor of anxiety and related symptoms. The possible reasons for these findings and their implications were discussed in light of theoretical models of anxiety, worry, and IU.

Understanding the Impact of Natural Disasters on Psychological Outcomes in Youth from Mainland China: a Meta-Analysis of Risk and Protective Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that causes significant distress and impairment. Studies generally indicate lower rates of PTSD post-disaster in Chinese child populations. Irrespective of population examined, findings suggest that trauma alone cannot account for the development of PTSD (Ma et al. 2011). It is important to understand what other variables may contribute to the onset of PTSD. This was the first meta-analysis conducted to investigate risk and protective factors for PTSD (as well as mediating/moderating variables) in children directly impacted by natural disasters in China. Understanding these factors can help guide disaster readiness efforts, as well as post-disaster interventions (Yule et al. 2000). Also, this study is extremely relevant given recent earthquakes in China that have devastated many.

Attentional biases in high social anxiety using a flanker task.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The existence of threat-related attentional bias has been well supported in social anxiety research. However, most previous studies investigated separately attentional bias toward targets or distractors. This study examined the selective attention of socially anxious individuals in the presence of both emotional targets and distractors. METHODS: Participants with high vs. low social anxiety (HSA vs. LSA) took part in a modified flanker task. Participants initially focused on the center of the screen, and then were required to identify the emotion of the central face (target) regardless of the flanking faces (distractors). RESULTS: The response times (RTs) of the HSA and LSA groups did not differ significantly when responding to different central faces (targets), but the HSA group responded more slowly to central faces when the flankers (distractors) were negative faces as opposed to positive or neutral. LIMITATIONS: The depression levels of participants in this non-clinical sample were not controlled. CONCLUSION: The results support attention control theory and suggest impaired inhibition control in HSA..

Does attention redirection contribute to the effectiveness of attention bias modification on social anxiety?

Attention bias modification (ABM) is designed to modify threat-related attention bias and thus alleviate anxiety. The current research examined whether consistently directing attention towards targeted goals per se contributes to ABM efficacy. We randomly assigned 68 non-clinical college students with elevated social anxiety to non-valence-specific attend-to-geometrics (AGC), attention modification (AMC), or attention control (ACC) conditions. We assessed subjective, behavioral, and physiological reactivity to a speech task and self-reported social anxiety symptoms. After training, participants in the AMC exhibited an attention avoidance from threat, and those in the AGC responded more rapidly toward targeted geometrics. There was a significant pre- to post-reduction in subjective speech distress across groups, but behavioral and physiological reactivity to speech, as well as self-report social anxiety symptoms, remained unchanged. These results lead to questions concerning effectiveness of ABM training for reducing social anxiety. Further examination of the current ABM protocol is required.

Time-course of attentional bias for positive social words in individuals with high and low social anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Although accumulating research demonstrates the association between attentional bias and social anxiety, the bias for positive stimuli has so far not been adequately studied. AIMS: The aim is to investigate the time-course of attentional bias for positive social words in participants with high and low social anxiety. METHOD: In a modified dot-probe task, word-pairs of neutral and positive social words were randomly presented for 100, 500, and 1250 milliseconds in a nonclinical sample of students to test their attentional bias. RESULTS: Non-significant interaction of Group × Exposure Duration was found. However, there was a significant main effect of group, with significantly different response latencies between the high social anxiety (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA) groups in the 100 ms condition, without for 500 or 1250 ms. With respect to attentional bias, the LSA group showed enhanced preferential attention for positive social words to which the HSA group showed avoidance in the 100 ms condition. In the 500 ms condition, preferential attention to positive social words was at trend in the LSA group, relative to the HSA group. Neither group showed attentional bias in the 1250 ms condition. CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend recent research about the attention training program and add to the empirical literature suggesting that the initial avoidance of positive stimuli may contribute to maintaining social anxiety.