ABSTRACT
Methodological Considerations ...................................................................... 306 Stressor Assessment .................................................................................... 306
Self-Report Checklists............................................................................. 307 Interview Methods of Stressor Assessment ........................................... 308 General Criticisms of Stressor Assessment Methods ............................ 309
Additional Methodological Notes .............................................................. 310 Stress Exposure and Depressive Reactions to Stress ..................................... 311
Adolescence and Exposure to Stress .......................................................... 311 Gender Differences in Stress Exposure ................................................. 312
Depression Reactivity and Sensitivity to Stress ........................................ 313 Gender Differences in Depressive Reactions to Stress ......................... 315 Stress Sensitization and Related Concepts ............................................ 316
Stress Generation and Depression .................................................................. 318 Defi nitions and Empirical Evidence........................................................... 318 Correlates and Predictors of Stress Generation ......................................... 319
Models of the Stress-Depression Relationship ............................................... 321 Conclusions and Future Directions ................................................................ 324 References ........................................................................................................ 326
The current volume’s focus on depression in adolescence is an acknowl-edgment of the distinctiveness of this age group in terms of epidemi-ological, etiological, course, and treatment considerations. The high rates of onset of depressive disorder and the emergence of dramatic gender differences in adolescence raise intriguing questions about the developmental psychopathology of depression, and foretell crucial clinical concerns about the impact and course of depressive disorders with adolescent onset. Indeed, it could be claimed that studies of adolescent depression are central to understanding unipolar depression in its most frequent and typical forms. One reason is that adolescence is one of the most common periods of onset of depression in recent birth cohorts, with high rates of recurrence even in community samples (e.g., Andrade et al., 2003; Kessler et al., 2003;
Lewinsohn, Rohde, Klein, & Seeley, 1999). A second is that compared to adolescent depression, those with childhood onset and later adult onset are likely different disorders with unique etiological and course features (e.g., Blazer, 2003; Weissman et al., 1999).
