Self-regulatory contributions to depressive symptoms in a community sample of youth

Objective

Depression is prevalent in youth, with concerning implications for their current and future function. Risk for depression is elevated pending how youth attempt to regulate their affective experiences (emotion regulation; ER) and the effectiveness with which they use higher-order cognitive abilities to work towards and attain their goals (executive functions; EF). According to the impaired disengagement hypothesis, depression may arise when ineffective EFs lead to reliance on maladaptive forms of ER—such as rumination. This study investigates rumination, other ER strategies, and EF challenges as correlated predictors of depressive symptoms in youth. Method: A community sample of 191 youth 11–18 years (M = 13.47, SD = 1.48, 108 females, 48 % White, 5 % Black, 5 % Hispanic, 42 % Other) completed self-report measures of their mental health, ER strategies, and ability to apply EF abilities in their everyday lives. Results: Depression was elevated in youth who identified as female and who endorsed higher levels of EF-challenge, greater dispositional use of maladaptive ER, and lesser dispositional use of adaptive ER. The association of youths’ EF challenges and depressive symptoms was attenuated and no longer significant in a multivariate model that considered the association between their depressive symptoms and use of self-blaming rumination, catastrophizing, expressive suppression, and positive reappraisal. Conclusions: Early identification of self-regulatory factors that increase youths’ risk of depression, including the experience of everyday EF challenges and reliance on maladaptive forms of ER, has potential to guide prevention and treatment efforts that mitigate the effects of depression in adolescence and adulthood.