Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Stress and Emotional Reactivity as Explanations for Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether certain types of stressful events and how individuals respond to these events would explain gender differences in depressive symptoms among adolescents. We hypothesized that certain stressful events would mediate the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms. We also hypothesized that individual differences in emotional reactivity would impact part of this relationship. Lastly, we examined whether gender differences in early childhood temperament might explain gender differences in emotional reactivity in adolescence. We examined these hypotheses in a sample of 315 adolescents (51% females; 93% Caucasian; 3% African–American; and 1% each Hispanic, Asian–American, and Native American) participating in a longitudinal study of child development since birth. We used multiple regression and constrained nonlinear regression to analyze the data. Results indicated that stressful events significantly mediated gender differences in depression, and that individual differences in emotional reactivity to these stressors significantly moderated the relationship between stress and depression. We also observed significant gender differences in emotional reactivity to these stressors; temperamental differences in withdrawal negativity in infancy were marginally significant in mediating gender differences in emotional reactivity to stress in adolescence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.96.2.358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allgood-Merten, B., Lewinsohn, P. M., & Hops, H. (1990). Sex differences and adolescent depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 55–63. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.99.1.55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical consideration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J., Hsieh, K., & Crnic, K. (1998). Infant positive and negative emotionality: One dimension or two? In M. Hertzig & E. Farber (Eds.), Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, D. K., & Bittner, M. T. (1994). Temperament and school-aged children’s coping abilities and responses to stress. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 289–302.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caspi, A., & Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperamental qualities at age three predict personality traits in young adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. Child Development, 66, 486–498. doi:10.2307/1131592.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, E. C. (2002). Optimism-pessimism and stress appraisal: Testing a cognitive interactive model of psychological maladjustment in adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 675–690. doi:10.1023/A:1020313427884.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Mineka, S. (1994). Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 103–116. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.103.1.103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J., & Jaser, S. S. (2004). Temperament, stress reactivity, and coping: Implications for depression in childhood. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 21–31. doi:10.1207/S15374424JCCP3301_3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Davis, G. E., Forsythe, C. J., & Wagner, B. M. (1987). Assessment of major and daily stressful events during adolescence: The adolescent perceived events scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 534–541. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.55.4.534.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costello, E. J., Mustillo, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 837–844. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.8.837.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R., Casas, J. F., & Nelson, D. A. (2002). Toward a more comprehensive understanding of peer maltreatment: Studies of relational victimization. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 376–385. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. T., & Windle, M. (1997). Gender-specific pathways between maternal depressive symptoms, family discord, and adolescent adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 33, 657–668. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.657.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. C., Matthews, K. A., & Twamley, E. W. (1999). Is life more difficult on Mars or Venus? A meta-analytic review of sex differences in major and minor life events. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 21, 83–97. doi:10.1007/BF02895038.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. (2007). Methods for integrating moderation and mediation: A general analytical framework using moderated path analysis. Psychological Methods, 12, 1–22. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.12.1.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, X., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., Elder, G. H., & Simons, R. L. (1994). Trajectories of stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Developmental Psychology, 30, 467–483. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.30.4.467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampel, P., & Petermann, F. (2006). Perceived stress, coping, and adjustment in adolescents. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 38, 409–415. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.02.014.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2001). Development of gender differences in depression: An elaborated cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 773–796. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.6.773.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffit, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.107.1.128.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Mermelstein, R., & Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression: Stress exposure and reactivity models. Child Development, 78, 278–295. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00997.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J. S., Klein, M. H., Essex, M. J., & Clark, R. (1995). Maternity leave and women’s health. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 257–285. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1995.tb00291.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J. S., Mezulis, A. H., & Abramson, L. Y. (2008). The ABCs of depression: Integrating affective, biological, and cognitive models to explain the emergence of the gender difference in depression. Psychological Review, 115, 291–313. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.291.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., McGonagle, K. A., Swarz, M., Blazer, D. G., & Nelson, C. B. (1993). Sex and depression in the National Comorbidity Survey I: Lifetime prevalence, chronicity and recurrence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 29, 85–96. doi:10.1016/0165-0327(93)90026-G.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M. (1985). The children’s depression inventory (CDI). Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21, 995–998.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, R. F., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., & McGee, R. (1996). Personality traits are differentially linked to mental disorders: A multitrait–multidiagnosis study of an adolescent birth cohort. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 299–312. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.105.3.299.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., & West, S. G. (2002). A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7, 83–104. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mezulis, A. H., Hyde, J. S., & Abramson, L. Y. (2006). The developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression: Temperament, parenting, and negative life events in childhood as contributors to negative cognitive style. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1012–1025. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., & Aikens, J. W. (2004). Cognitive moderators of the longitudinal association between peer rejection and adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 147–158. doi:10.1023/B:JACP.0000019767.55592.63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinstein, M. J., Cheah, C. S. L., & Guyer, A. E. (2005). Peer victimization, cue interpretation, and internalizing symptoms: Preliminary concurrent and longitudinal findings for children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 11–24. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3401_2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart, M. K. (1981). Measurement of temperament in infancy. Child Development, 52, 569–578. doi:10.2307/1129176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart, M. L. (1986). Longitudinal observation of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 22, 356–365. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.3.356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, K. D. (2002). Gender difference in emotional response to interpersonal stress during adolescence. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 305, 3–13. doi:10.1016/S1054-139X(01)00383-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactions in youngsters: A transactional perspective. Child Development, 70, 660–677. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00048.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shih, J. H., Eberhart, N. K., Hammen, C. L., & Brennan, P. A. (2006). Differential exposure and reactivity to interpersonal stress predict sex differences in adolescent depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 103–115. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3501_9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. A., Haynes, K. N., Lazarus, R. S., & Pope, L. K. (1993). In search of the “hot” cognitions: Attributions, appraisals, and their relation to emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 916–929. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.916.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, J., Chaney, J., Hommel, K., Andrews, N., & Jarvis, J. (2007). A cognitive-diathesis stress model of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with juvenile rheumatic disease. Children’s Health Care, 36, 45–62.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, Seattle Pacific University, 3307 3rd Ave West, Suite 107, Seattle, WA, 98119, USA

    Anna M. Charbonneau & Amy H. Mezulis

  2. Department of Psychology, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    Janet Shibley Hyde

Authors
  1. Anna M. Charbonneau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amy H. Mezulis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Janet Shibley Hyde
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna M. Charbonneau.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Charbonneau, A.M., Mezulis, A.H. & Hyde, J.S. Stress and Emotional Reactivity as Explanations for Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms. J Youth Adolescence 38, 1050–1058 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9398-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9398-8

Keywords