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Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

ABSTRACT: Stressful life events are known to contribute to development of depression; however, it is possible this link is bidirectional. The present study examined whether such stress generation effects are greater than the effects of stressful life events on depression, and whether stress generation is also evident with anxiety.Participants were two large age cohorts (N = 732 aged 44 years; N = 705 aged 63 years) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study.Stressful life events, depression, and anxiety symptoms were measured twice five years apart. Cross-lagged panel analysis examined the mutual influences of stressful life events on depression and on anxiety over time.Life events predicted later depressive symptomatology (p = .01), but the depression predicting life events relationship was less strong (p = .06), whereas earlier anxiety predicted life events five years later (p = .001). There was evidence of sex differences in the extent to which life events predicted later anxiety.This study provides evidence of stress causation for depression and weaker evidence for stress generation. In contrast, there was strong evidence of stress generation for anxiety but weaker evidence for stress causation, and that differed for men and women.

SUBMITTER: Phillips AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4772121 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

Phillips Anna C AC Carroll Douglas D Der Geoff G

Anxiety, stress, and coping 20150205 4

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Stressful life events are known to contribute to development of depression; however, it is possible this link is bidirectional. The present study examined whether such stress generation effects are greater than the effects of stressful life events on depression, and whether stress generation is also evident with anxiety.<h4>Design</h4>Participants were two large age cohorts (N = 732 aged 44 years; N = 705 aged 63 years) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study. ...[more]

PMID: 25572915

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Project description:ImportanceDifferent types of traumatic life events have varying impacts on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. For women from areas of the world experiencing war and humanitarian crises, who have experienced cumulative trauma exposure during war and forced migration, it is not known whether cumulative trauma or particular events have the greatest impact on symptoms.ObjectiveTo examine which traumatic life events are associated with depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms, compared with the cumulative amount, in a sample of female refugees.Design, setting, and participantsFor this cross-sectional study, data were collected in 2016 as a part of The Study on Female Refugees. The current analysis was conducted in 2022 to 2023. This multicenter study covered 5 provinces in Germany. Participants were recruited at reception centers for refugees. Women volunteered to participate and to be interviewed after information seminars at the different centers.ExposureTraumatic life events experienced by refugees from areas of the world experiencing war and humanitarian crises.Main outcomes and measuresDemographic variables (age, country of origin, religion, education, relationship status, and children), traumatic and adverse life events, and self-reported depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms were measured. Random forest regressions simultaneously examined the importance of these variables on symptom scores. Follow-up exploratory mediation models tested potential associative pathways between the identified variables of importance.ResultsFor the final sample of 620 refugee women (mean [SD] age, 32.34 [10.35] years), family violence was most associated with depression (mean [SD] variable of importance [VIM], 2.93 [0.09]), anxiety (mean [SD] VIM, 4.15 [0.11]), and somatization (mean [SD] VIM, 3.99 [0.15]), even though it was less common than other traumatic experiences, including war, accidents, hunger, or lack of housing. Other factors, such as childhood sexual abuse, injury, near-death experiences, and lack of access to health care, were also important. Follow-up analyses showed partial mediation effects between these factors in their association with symptoms, supporting the unique importance of family violence in understanding mental health.Conclusions and relevanceThe findings of this cross-sectional study of refugee women who experienced multiple severe traumas related to war in their home countries and danger encountered during their migration suggest that family violence was key to their current mental health problems. Culturally sensitive assessment and treatment need to place special emphasis on these family dynamics.

Project description:Previous studies have demonstrated an association between negative life events (NLEs) in childhood and resilience/posttraumatic growth (PTG) with regard to the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. We hypothesized that the type and timing of NLEs interact to influence mental health in the general youth population. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effects of NLE timing and intensity on current depressive symptoms, and to determine the direct and indirect effects of NLEs/resilience on PTG and depression among non-clinical adolescents. Data were collected from 1,038 high-school students across seven high schools in Fukui, Japan, during their freshman and sophomore years (648 boys and 390 girls, mean age = 15.71, SD = 0.524). Respondents completed a set of questionnaires designed to evaluate the type and timing of NLEs, depressive and traumatic symptoms, and PTG. Cluster analysis was used to divide participants into three groups based on outcomes: "cluster 1" (n = 631), for whom depressive scores were significantly lower than other two subgroups (p < 0.05, for both); "cluster 2" (n = 52), for whom levels of current and past perceived stress associated with NLEs were significantly higher than those of the other two subgroups (p < 0.05, for both); "cluster 3" (n = 374), for whom perceived stress at the time of NLE was significantly higher than that of participants in the cluster 1 (p < 0.05) group, but not the cluster 2 group. Our findings indicated that exposure to NLEs at a younger age resulted in stronger negative outcomes and that NLE timing and intensity were associated with PTG and current symptoms of depression. Furthermore, path analysis demonstrated that associations between perceived stress at the time of NLEs were direct and indirect predictors of current depression via PTG and that posttraumatic stress symptom and PTG mediate the association between NLEs/trait-resiliency and current depression. In conclusion, our findings suggest that event intensity, NLE timing, and gender may play a role in emotional vulnerability during adolescence.

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Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

Publications

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation.

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