Depressive Disorders and Suicide
The article explores three cognitive diatheses in determining causes of depression in young adolescents’ children. The three were, self-competence(SC) , Negative cognitive model (NC) and the attributional style (AS).The research question aimed at examining the conjoint and unique contribution of the three cognitive diatheses in conveying risk for the emergence of depressive symptoms in adolescent children. To attain results, the researchers used a three-wave, longitudinal design, and multi-informant, which was observed for findings. The research came up with three findings; there was an empirical overlap between the three cognitive diatheses especially in the S and N. All of the three attributes had a significant relationship to depression symptoms during the 6, 18 and 30months as a result of mostly N and S. Finally there was no significance between life events and cognitive risks indicating an additional type of diathesis-stress model in young adolescents for depression.
The study involved three cognitive diatheses, namely the self-competence, the negative cognitive model and the attributional style. The self-competence model outlines that an individual’s sense of personal incompetence contributes a lot towards depression, especially in childhood and early adolescent. It argues that the negative feedback people obtain from their significant others plays a major role in shaping their life. The negative cognitive model asses the preexisting negative cognitive schemes which highly affect the perception of an individual. As a result, if it is negative, it is likely to cause depression in the young adolescent. The attributional style explores stressful life events in an individual’s life’s have a higher chance of inducing depression to the person. It is highly likely to effective in children and young adolescents’.
The attributional style would be more effective to predict depression in an individual’s life, especially in the younger generation. It is highly likely that if an individual is subjected to a stressful event, it takes a while for them to overcome. Some require the help of a therapist or counsellor to overcome the happenings. They are taken through the process to reduce their thought process over the same issue, as a result, lower the chances of depression in an individual. Analyzing the other two models, they need a loser to look to outline whether an individual has been subjected to comments that could result in depression. Sometimes the part causing the other to be depressed is not aware, or it could be as a result of a misunderstanding. It ould also be due to the different ways of perception when someone did not mean it. Hence, the attributional style is more predictable in depression.
The attributional style was revealed to be less critical as compared to the other two attributes because its predictability has a higher chance. The attribution style analyses the prior events that have happened in the life of an individual; hence people surrounding them and predict depression in them and find solutions to it. The self-competence diathesis requires a closer look and investigation to realize that a person has been affected by a negative comment that was made by their significant other. It requires analysis of a professional to get the individual to open up. It is sometimes due to different perceptions people hold. Whereby they did not mean to offend the depressed party. Depression resulting from S is hard to get away from as forgetting negative comments about oneself is not easy, especially for young adolescents.
The negative cognitive model as well requires a deeper analysis and is not easy to notice. This is because it is ignited by the thought process of the young adolescent. It begins to form the mind where they tend to think about peoples comments about themselves. It turns changes their whole perception about them, based on what they have heard from the eternal environment. It is critical because coming back from this state is very hard for the children as it escalates to depression at a higher rate. Especially if they have no one to talk to salvage their thoughts. Attributional style is less significant due to its predictability nature which also makes it easy to diagnose and treat at an early age.
The test results conducted were from a very specific population in experimenting. I would expect the responses to be similar if the results were conducted with a different group. It is because the samples selected were diverse, and it was done randomly. This type of tests is done to represent a whole. Young adolescents all over undergo similar challenges. The number reported to have depression is almost equal in every location. Basing on the three cognitive diatheses, they would reveal similar characteristics the source of their depression. Even though people have various ways of perceiving things, depression will still strike in the same way, be it as a result of previous events, negative feedback from people or negative cognitive schemes around them.
The three cognitive diathesis work hand in hand in determining the causes of depression in young adolescents. The research has effectively proved the same through the experiments done on the samples they selected randomly. The strengths of the study lied with the sampling methods they proposed as they represented a whole. It meant that the findings could be used to analyze a group of young adolescents for depression. The weakness was that the research was limited to the three cognitive diatheses in analyzing depression in young adolescents. Good research to follow this one would be how to handle the different case of depression in young adolescents.