SELF-SCHEMAS AND VULNERABILITY TO SPECIFIC LIFE STRESS IN CHILDREN AT RISK FOR DEPRESSION

The hypothesis that depression results from the match between an area of particular meaning to the self and the occurrence of negative life events in that domain was tested in a sample of 8- to 16-year-old children. The children included a group at risk for psychopathology who were offspring of mothers with affective disorders or chronic medical illness, and control children of normal mothers. They were classified as attaching particular meaning to the sense of self in either the interpersonal or achievement areas, based on recollections of recent personal events, a procedure employed formerly by Hammen and colleagues with college students (Hammen et al., 1985). The youngsters were then followed for a 6-month period, assessing occurrence of stressful life events and symptoms. As predicted, there was a significant association between onset or exacerbation of depression and the experience of stressors relevant to the child's self-schema classification. Although the hypothesis was confirmed overall, the results must be qualified by noting that the effect was especially marked for children of depressed mothers, and for those in the interpersonal vulnerability group. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.