Vulnerability to Depression Cognitive Reactivity and Parental Bonding in High-Risk Individuals

• Published in: Journal of abnormal psychology (1965) Vol. 109; no. 4; pp. 588 - 596
• Main Authors: Ingram, Rick E, Ritter, Jennifer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-11-2000
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Arousal; At risk youth; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Processes; Cognitive processing; Depression; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Female; Human; Humans; Individuality; Major Depression; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Mood disorders; Object Attachment; Parent Child Relations; Parental bonding; Parents & parenting; Personality Development; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Vulnerability; Mood disorder; Human; Parental behavior; High risk; Attention; Depression; Cognition; Infantile experience; Vulnerability; Experimental study; Information processing; Family environment; Cognitive style; Antecedent; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0021-843X; 2769-7541; 1939-1846; 2769-755X
• DOI: 10.1037/0021-843X.109.4.588

Although various conceptual proposals have suggested that disruptions in childhood bonding processes may be linked to the origins of these cognitive structures, little research has tested these proposals. This study assessed the information processing of vulnerable individuals and its relationship to childhood bonding. Formerly depressed (vulnerable) and never depressed (nonvulnerable) individuals participated in a mood induction task followed by an attentional allocation task. Results indicated that vulnerable individuals uniquely diverted attention toward negative stimuli when they were in a negative mood. Furthermore, level of maternal caring was found to be associated with performance on this task for vulnerable individuals in this mood state. These data support the idea that cognitive variables form a pathway between troublesome parental-child/adolescent interactions and depression.