The Conjoined Effect of Naturalistic Perceived Available Support and Enacted Support on Cardiovascular Reactivity During a Laboratory Stressor

Background  

Studies have suggested that enacted social support has salutogenetic effects on cardiovascular activation during stress.     

High-Frequency Heart Rate Variability Reactivity and Trait Worry Interact to Predict the Development of Sleep Disturbances in Response to a Naturalistic Stressor

Background

High-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) reactivity was proposed as a vulnerability factor for stress-induced sleep disturbances. Its effect may be amplified among individuals with high trait worry or sleep reactivity.

Purpose

This study evaluated whether HF-HRV reactivity to a worry induction, sleep reactivity, and trait worry predict increases in sleep disturbances in response to academic stress, a naturalistic stressor.

Method

A longitudinal study following 102 undergraduate students during an academic semester with well-defined periods of lower and higher academic stress was conducted. HF-HRV reactivity to a worry induction, trait worry using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, and sleep reactivity using the Ford Insomnia Stress Reactivity Test were measured during the low stress period. Sleep disturbances using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were assessed twice during the lower stress period and three times during the higher stress period.

Results

Greater reductions in HF-HRV in response to the worry induction predicted increases in sleep disturbances from the lower to the higher academic stress period. Trait worry moderated this association: individuals with both higher trait worry and greater HF-HRV reactivity to worry had larger increases in stress-related sleep disturbances over time, compared to participants with lower trait worry and HF-HRV reactivity. A similar, but marginally significant effect was found for sleep reactivity.

Conclusion

This study supports the role of HF-HRV reactivity as a vulnerability factor for stress-induced sleep disturbances. The combination of high trait worry and high HF-HRV reactivity to worry might identify a subgroup of individuals most vulnerable to stress-related sleep disturbances.

     

Aggression by Children Exposed to IPV: Exploring the Role of Child Depressive Symptoms,Trauma-Related Symptoms, & Warmth in Family Relationships

Multi-informant reports of aggression by siblings in families with and without a history of IPV were compared. Associations between aggressive behavior and child depressive and trauma-related symptoms, as well as maternal and sibling warmth were also explored. Mothers, observers and the siblings themselves reported on aggressive behaviour. Mothers reported on child trauma-related symptoms while children provided self-report on depressive symptoms and mother–child and sibling warmth. The frequency of observed aggression did not differ across groups on average, although more sibling dyads exposed to IPV engaged in aggression than those not exposed. Child reports of sibling aggression did not differ across groups but mothers reported significantly less aggressive behavior by children exposed to IPV than those not exposed. Regression results indicated that depressive and trauma-related symptoms were significant risk factors for aggression, while the role of mother–child and sibling warmth was more complex. Results were discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework.     

The Effects of Poor Sleep on Cognitive, Affective, and Physiological Responses to a Laboratory Stressor

Background

Recent research suggests that poor sleep may be associated with altered stress regulation.

Purpose

This study aims to examine the associations between prior-night and prior-month sleep measures and affective, cognitive, and physiological responses to a laboratory stressor.

Methods

Ninety-eight (50 % female) young adults completed measures of sleep quality in the context of a laboratory stress study. Measures included positive (PA) and negative affects (NA) and blood pressure (BP) reactivity, as well as change in pre-sleep arousal.

Results

Prior-month poor sleep quality and sleep disturbances predicted dampened BP reactivity. Both prior-night and prior-month sleep quality predicted greater decrease in PA. Sleep-associated monitoring predicted NA reactivity and prolonged cognitive and affective activation. Prior-month sleep continuity predicted greater cognitive pre-sleep arousal change, and prior-month sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and disturbances predicted prolonged cognitive and affective activation.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that inadequate sleep confers vulnerability to poor cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to stress.     

Sleep Quality Predicts Persistence of Parental Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Transmission of Depressive Symptoms from Mothers to Fathers

Background

Early parenthood is a time of chronic sleep disturbance and also of heightened depression risk. Poor sleep quality has been identified both as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms and as a consequence.

Purpose

This study sought to clarify causal pathways linking sleep and postpartum depression via longitudinal path modeling. Sleep quality at 6 months postpartum was hypothesized to exacerbate depressive symptoms from 1 month through 1 year postpartum in both mothers and fathers. Within-couple associations between sleep and depression were also tested.

Methods

Data were drawn from a low-income, racially and ethnically diverse sample of 711 couples recruited after the birth of a child. Depressive symptoms were assessed at 1, 6, and 12 months postpartum, and sleep was assessed at 6 months postpartum.

Results

For both partnered mothers and fathers and for single mothers, depressive symptoms at 1 month postpartum predicted sleep quality at 6 months, which in turn predicted depressive symptoms at both 6 and 12 months. Results held when infant birth weight, breastfeeding status, and parents’ race/ethnicity, poverty, education, and immigration status were controlled. Mothers’ and fathers’ sleep quality and depressive symptoms were correlated, and maternal sleep quality predicted paternal depressive symptoms both at 6 and at 12 months.

Conclusions

Postpartum sleep difficulties may contribute to a vicious cycle between sleep and the persistence of depression after the birth of a child. Sleep problems may also contribute to the transmission of depression within a couple. Psychoeducation and behavioral treatments to improve sleep may benefit new parents.

     

Accumulation of Depressive Symptoms and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Background

The association between depressive symptoms and subclinical atherosclerosis has been inconsistent.

Purpose

We sought to replicate our previous study, which demonstrated a positive relation between depressive symptoms and subclinical atherosclerosis assessed with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in men, using a newer measurement of carotid IMT and a cumulative loading of depressive symptoms over three follow-ups.

Methods

The sample comprised 996 adults (352 men) aged 30 to 45 years in 2007 from a prospective population-based Finnish sample. The participants completed a modified version of Beck Depression Inventory in 1992, 1997, and 2001. Carotid IMT was assessed with ultrasound in 2001 and 2007. Cardiovascular risk factors (i.e., body mass index, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and smoking) were measured in childhood (1980) and in adulthood (2007).

Results

We found no association between the accumulative depression index and carotid IMT before or after controlling for the traditional risk factors (all p values ≥0.67). Depressive symptoms did not predict IMT progression over two time points and the highest level of carotid wall thickening. Imputed and non-imputed data sets provided similar results. Results remained the same when men and women were analyzed separately. Additional analyses revealed no significant interactions between depressive symptoms and cardiovascular risk factors (i.e., body mass index and systolic blood pressure) on carotid IMT (all p values >0.15).

Conclusions

The findings of this population-based study did not indicate any direct association between depressive symptoms and carotid IMT in asymptomatic, young adults.

     

Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Related Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Persons Living in a Rural Japanese Community: a Cross-Sectional Study

To clarify the prevalence of depression in a rural community in Japan and to evaluate the social and familial risk factors for depression, with the goal of suicide prevention, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a total of 2,763 elderly persons. The determined prevalence of depressive symptoms (Zung’s self-rated depression scale score of 50 points or more) was 10.4%. Logistic regression analysis showed associations between depressive symptoms and age, absence of a friendly companion, irritation with one’s family, frequent loneliness, the opinion that stress has a large impact on one’s life, suicide ideation, and poor subjective physical and mental health. Y. Kaneko, Y. Motohashi and H. Sasaki are affiliated with the Department of Public Health, Akita, Japan. M. Yamaji is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health and Medical Care, Saitama, Japan.     

Minocycline for Depressive Symptoms: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized,Double-Blinded,Placebo-Controlled Trials

Psychiatric Quarterly - Neuroinflammation appears to be associated with the neurobiology of depression, and treatments targeting inflammation have shown promising results in depression. This...     

The Relationship Between Mindfulness,Depressive Symptoms,and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Amongst Adolescents

Mindfulness is often part of treatment for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, there has been limited research examining the role of mindfulness in NSSI. Thus, the current study sought to investigate the relationship among mindfulness, depressive symptoms, and NSSI (past year) in adolescents (N = 764; 56.8% female, M age = 14.42, SD = 0.64) with consideration of gender. Adolescents with recent NSSI (n = 74; 83.8% female, M age = 14.36, SD = 0.56) and a matched for age and gender no-NSSI group completed measures of mindfulness and depression. Findings revealed that mindfulness and depressive symptoms were negatively correlated, although significantly less so for the NSSI group. Second, the NSSI group reported greater depressive symptoms and less mindfulness. Finally, mindfulness was found to partially mediate the effect of depressive symptoms on NSSI. The present study is the first to provide empirical support for the protective role of mindfulness in NSSI.     

Maternal Psychological Control,Use of Supportive Parenting,and Childhood Depressive Symptoms

The current study, operating from a stress-process framework, examined the interactive effects of supportive parenting practices (i.e., mothers’ use of positive communication, positive parenting, and parental involvement) and maternal psychological control on mother- and child-reported child depressive symptoms in a community-recruited sample of 9–12 year-olds. Discrepancies between reports of depressive symptoms were also examined. Maternal psychological control was uniquely associated with child-, not mother-, reported depressive symptoms. Parental involvement was uniquely associated with mother-, not child-, reported depressive symptoms. Positive parent–child communication was associated with both reports of child depressive symptoms at the bivariate level, but not when unique associations were examined. Positive parenting was unrelated to either report of depressive symptoms. No interaction effects were detected. The current findings highlight the differential importance of parenting practices on child depressive symptoms, and also indicate the necessity of gathering both parent and child reports of symptomatology and family functioning.     

Depressive Symptoms Among Help-Seeking Latinas in a Disadvantaged,Urban, Northeastern Community Mental Health Center

This study examined racial/ethnic differences in self-reported depressive symptoms in a clinical population at a northeastern community mental health center. Two hundred eighty-two individuals presenting for mental health intake completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II in either English or Spanish. Latinas reported higher severity of depressive symptoms compared to both African Americans and non-Latina whites. Latinas showed higher levels on both the somatic and the affective/cognitive scales of the BDI-II. These findings differ somewhat from previous reports, some of which suggest that Latinas exhibit elevation specifically in somatic symptoms. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for assessment and treatment.     

Neurocognitive Complaints in HIV-Infection and Their Relationship to Depressive Symptoms and Neuropsychological Functioning

We examined the degree to which depressive symptoms, clinical staging of HIV disease, and neuropsychological (NP) functioning were related to neurocognitive complaints in HIV-infection. One hundred adults with HIV-infection (12 asymptomatic, 41 mildly symptomatic, and 47 with AIDS) were administered NP tests of attention and working memory, language, psychomotor speed, verbal memory, and conceptual problem-solving, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Patient's Assessment of Own Functioning Inventory (Chelune, Heaton & Lehman, 1986), a subjective neurocognitive complaint questionnaire where patients rated their problems with memory, language and communication, sensory-motor skills, and higher-level cognitive and intellectual functions. Neurocognitive complaints (regardless of specific type) were correlated significantly with depressive symptoms and with NP measures of attention and working memory, psychomotor skills, and learning efficiency. However, multiple regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms accounted for the majority of variance explained in neurocognitive complaints with psychomotor efficiency generally predicting the remaining variance. Neurocognitive complaints did not differ according to HIV clinical staging.