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Depressive symptoms are prevalent in adolescence, but not all adolescents experience the same level or evolution of symptoms, suggesting the need to identify differences in trajectories of symptoms. We used Growth Mixture Modeling to analyze different trajectories of depressive symptoms in a sample of 1,072 Chilean adolescents (12-15 years old, 54% female). First, a baseline model was selected and then adolescent irritability, maternal warmth, demandingness and disrespect were introduced to the model as predictors of class membership. Four latent class trajectories of depressive symptoms were identified: high persistent (12%), low stable (56%), high decreasing (15%) and low increasing (17%). Low stable was the most prevalent class, and was characterized by higher maternal warmth and lower maternal disrespect and adolescent irritability while high persistent was characterized by the opposite maternal characteristics. Significant gender differences in class membership were observed. The results highlight the importance of identifying different trajectories of depressive symptoms and specific predictors of each trajectory. The association of parenting dimensions with trajectories of persistent depressive symptoms provides evidence that parenting can serve as both a protective and risk factor for adolescent adjustment.

The objective of this study was to evaluate th×e relationship between the magnitude of an earthquake, the fear experienced, the self-efficacy beliefs, and post-traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents. We expected self-efficacy beliefs to predict post-traumatic stress symptoms, and this relation to be mediated by fear. We used data from a longitudinal project on adolescent normative development that was under way at the time of the 2010 earthquake in Chile. Six months before the earthquake, 218 adolescents responded to a self-efficacy beliefs scale; three months after the earthquake they reported the perceived magnitude of the event, the fear they experienced, and their post-traumatic stress symptoms. Results showed that perceived magnitude was not associated with fear or post-traumatic stress symptoms, but self-efficacy beliefs and fear were associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms. The hypothesized role of fear as a mediator in the relation between self-efficacy beliefs and post-traumatic stress symptoms was supported by the data. The results of the study, suggest that preventive interventions aimed to increase awareness of how to face a disaster may not only contribute to save lives but may also increase adolescentś sense of personal efficacy, reducing subsequent emotional reactivity associated with the event.