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Prevention of depression in childhood is the best way to thwart the condition in adulthood, according to John Abela. The 看片视频 psychology professor has just completed a novel study -- the first of its kind on many levels -- where he examined whether psychological and environmental factors can cause children to be more vulnerable to depression. Results of his peer-reviewed investigation will be presented next week at a conference sponsored by the Society for Research on Child Development.

"Children are currently experiencing pessimism, sadness and depression at an unprecedented rate," warns Abela. "Depression is not age defined or exclusive to adults. By the time they're 14 years old, up to nine percent of children have already experienced at least one episode of severe depression."

Abela's study, conducted with the help of 35 undergraduate and graduate students, was the first of its kind to:
- Examine children's beliefs about themselves, the world, and the future and the consequences of these beliefs on emotional well-being over a 14-month period using diagnostic interviews, multiple assessments of depressive symptoms, and sophisticated assessments of stress.
- Investigate whether children whose parents have a history of depression possess more pessimistic beliefs about themselves, the world and the future - compared to children whose parents do not have a history of depression. It was also one of the first studies to show that pessimistic styles of thinking bring about vulnerability to depression even in younger children (i.e. 6-10 years of age).

Objectives

The primary goal of Abela's study was to examine, for a period of over one year, whether psychological and environmental factors confer vulnerability to depression in a sample of high-risk children between the ages of 6 and 14. "By using a high-risk sample of children," he explains, "we maximized the number of participants who experienced periods of depression during the course of the study."

The first group of participants included 140 high-risk children who possessed at least one parent with a history of depression. These children were monitored for 14 months. A second set of 40 low-risk children, whose parents had no history of depression, were recruited as a control group. The low-risk group was interviewed once and did not participate in the full duration of the study.

After an initial interview, the high-risk participants were telephoned every six weeks to assess symptoms of depression and the occurrence of negative events in their lives. This process lasted 12 months. Over the next two months, each child was given a small computer to monitor symptoms of depression and the occurrence of negative events. Called the Jornada 690, the handheld personal computers were pre-programmed to signal to participants when it was time to assess how they were feeling and what was currently happening in their life. An alarm would sound, the child would open the computer and a set of questions, one at a time, would appear on the screen. All questions were read aloud by the computer and responses appeared on the screen. The child simply had to touch the response that best described him or her at that time.

Results

Many compelling findings emerged from Abela's study. "The most riveting was how children who had a parent with a history of depression were four times more likely to be depressed themselves," says Abela. "Although epidemiological studies have shown that children of parents with a history of major depressive episodes are more likely to develop major depressive disorders than children of parents without such a history, relatively little research has examined why."

During the course of his study, Abela looked at whether psychological or environmental factors played a role in triggering depression in high-risk children. The result? "We discovered that both psychological and environmental factors can lead to depression in children," he says.

Some factors found to confer vulnerability to depression in children include: a tendency to make pessimistic remarks about oneself, the world, and their future; low self-esteem; poor coping strategies such as ruminating about one's problems without attempting to alleviate these problems; rigid and extreme personality traits such as self-criticism and dependency. "Younger kids experienced depression as sadness, irritability, being bored, tired or had trouble sleeping," says Abela. "Some even wished they were dead."

Abela believes the results of his study are very promising. "Our findings will have a significant impact on our understanding of the treatment and prevention of depression in children," he says. "Discovering the psychological and environmental factors that confer vulnerability to depression in children provides clinicians with a tool for identifying children at risk for depression. Identification of such children is essential so that their pessimistic tendencies can be modified and subsequent bouts of depression avoided.

Remedies

As part of Abela's study, all 140 participants and their parents were educated on how to prevent depression. "We helped train the children to challenge pessimistic styles of thinking," he says. "Styles of thinking can be identified and styles of thinking can be changed."

By making the results of his study public, Abela hopes that all Canadian grade schools will eventually adopt optimism training for children. "I think all schools should have optimistic training programs in their curriculum," he says, noting select schools in the U.S. and Canada offer such training.

Parents seeking ways to help their children overcome depression, says Abela, should consider reading Martin Seligman's The Optimistic Child (HarperTrade) as a start. A psychology professor at University of Pennsylvania, Seligman was Abela's thesis supervisor. Other potential resources for parents of depressed children can be found at:

• The Child and Adolescent Depression Clinic of the Allen Memorial Institute site of the 看片视频 University Health Centre: 514-843-1619.

Professor Abela's research was funded by the following organizations: The Canada Foundation for Innovation, Les Fonds qu茅b茅cois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FCAR) and The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression's (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award.