Does Expressive Suppression Precede Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence?

Abstract

The association between expressive suppression and depressive symptoms in adolescence has led to claims that expressive suppression precedes depressive symptoms. This widespread assumption has been applied to practical applications, as some therapeutic interventions target reducing expressive suppression use to improve depressive symptoms. However, longitudinal studies suggest that depressive symptoms precede expressive suppression, indicating that reducing expressive suppression is not a worthwhile target for intervention. Unfortunately, these studies used models that conflated between- and within-person processes, leaving a gap in our understanding about these processes at the within-person level. Establishing these within-person processes will determine whether the expressive suppression-depressive symptom association is the result of select individuals scoring higher or lower on these traits (between-person) or a pattern of directional effects regardless of mean score (within-person). The present study fills this gap by revealing within-person effects through Random-Intercepts Cross-Lagged Panel Modeling. Participants of the current study were typically developing adolescents (N = 187, 46.6% girls, 48.2% boys, 0.5% non-binary) 13-15 years old (Mage = 13.9, SD = 0.91). Every six months for three years, participants reported their expressive suppression and depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms predicted increases in expressive suppression more often than expressive suppression predicted depressive symptoms. Additionally, depressive symptoms predicted expressive suppression consistently for boys, and less consistently for girls. Results challenge pervasive claims that expressive suppression use is a vulnerability for the development of depressive symptoms, and instead suggest that emotional challenges of depressive symptoms (including more intense, frequent, or enduring negative emotions) may elicit greater expressive suppression use.