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Adolescents who experience negative life events may be at risk for depression, particularly those with psychosocial vulnerabilities. We investigate longitudinally the impact of vulnerability/protective factors on the relation between a large-scale negative life event, the COVID-19 pandemic, and depressive symptoms. Adolescents (N = 228, Mage = 14.5 years, 53% female, 73% white) self-reported depressive symptoms 2–4 months before the pandemic (Time 1), and again 2 months following stay-at-home orders (Time 2). At T2, adolescents also completed measures of vulnerability, protective factors, and COVID-19-related distress. Depressive symptoms increased at T2, and COVID-19 distress interacted with resilience and negative cognitive style in predicting increases in T2 depression. Focusing on vulnerability and protective factors in adolescents distressed by large scale negative life events appears crucial.

While the construct of countertransference has been established in psychodynamic theory since its inception, it has received relatively little attention from cognitive-behavioral theorists. However, it is generally agreed that therapists’ reactions to patients powerfully influence treatment, for better or worse. Suicidal patients in particular are likely to evoke negative reactions in therapists. In this paper, we briefly review the theoretical literature on countertransference, with particular attention to suicidal patients, from standpoints of psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral theory and research. We argue that the cognitive-behavioral perspective, together with the RAIN model proposed by mindfulness authors (Recognition, Acceptance, Investigation, and Non-Identification), opens avenues to assess, distance from, and perhaps modify cognitions that could lead to counter-therapeutic emotions and behaviors in working with suicidal patients. We conclude that, while work with suicidal patients can be challenging, cognitive-behavioral therapists can potentially improve effectiveness and enhance their own well-being by managing their reactions in a manner consistent with their theoretical orientation.

This study examined several tenets of the response styles theory of depression (RST, Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) and its generalizability to adolescent populations. Using a short-term longitudinal design, we evaluated whether response styles (i.e., ruminative and distractive responses to depressed mood) predict depression severity and whether they do so beyond the effects attributable to other cognitive variables. Anxiety was also assessed to investigate the specificity of RST to depression. Finally, we investigated gender differences in response style and whether these differences account for the gender difference in depression that emerges during adolescence. Self-reported affective symptoms and cognitive predictors (attributional style and private self-consciousness) were assessed in 397 adolescents. Results indicated that response style variables predicted concurrent and future (6-week followup) mood scores beyond effects accounted for by other cognitive variables. Rumination was less specific to the prediction of depression than was distraction, but only rumination predicted future depressed mood. Although girls reported more rumination, controlling for response style did not eliminate the gender difference in depression. Results are discussed with respect to the current status of RST, including construct measurement and its relevance to adolescent depression.

Depression and loneliness are two characteristic problems of adolescence. However, beginning in adolescence, girls experience depression at twice the rate of boys. Since depression and loneliness are highly correlated, it is surprising that girls are not also lonelier than boys. In fact, when gender differences do emerge, it is boys, not girls, who tend to be lonelier. We examined two possible explanations for this paradox: (1) a gender-specific response bias, characterized by a denial of emotional distress for boys that differentially affects reports of depression versus loneliness, and (2) gender differences in the relationship between depression and loneliness, whereby depression has a greater association with loneliness for boys than girls. Support was obtained for explanation two. Although there were no gender differences in loneliness among the nondepressed or the highly depressed, mildly depressed boys were significantly lonelier than mildly depressed girls and just as lonely as highly depressed boys. This depression/loneliness distinction for mildly depressed girls may be magnified by the large number of female depressives (65% in this sample) who fall into the mildly depressed range. Girls were also more likely than boys to report turning to their friends when feeling depressed, and results are discussed in terms of coping processes that may subserve the distinction between depression and loneliness.

Examined the role of attributional style in adolescent's psychological functioning. Specifically, we examined the cross-sectional correlates of attributional style, as well as the correlates of changes in attributional style over time. A sample of 841 adolescents with either maladaptive or adaptive attributional styles completed a battery of self-report measures at 2 points in time, 1 year apart. Measures assessed depressive symptoms and suicidality, cognitive functioning (self-esteem, pessimism, coping skills), and interpersonal functioning (social competence, conflict with parents, social support from family and friends). Results indicated that attributional style is associated with multiple depression-related variables. In addition, youth experienced significant changes in their attributional styles over time (from adaptive to maladaptive and vice versa). Finally, changes in attributional style were associated with changes in psychological symptoms and other psychosocial variables. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the prevention and treatment of adolescent depression.