ABSTRACT
Interpersonal Perspectives on Adolescent Depression .................................. 378 A Developmentally Informed Model of the Interpersonal
Context of Adolescent Depression .......................................................... 380 Overview of the Model .................................................................................... 380 Elaboration of the Model ................................................................................. 382
Premise 1: Maladaptive Appraisals of Relationships Create a Vulnerability to Depression .................................................................... 382
Premise 2: Social-Behavioral Defi cits Create a Vulnerability to Depression .................................................................... 384 Poor Self-Regulation ................................................................................ 384 Social Disengagement ............................................................................. 385 Negative Behavioral Self-Focus .............................................................. 385
Premise 3: Maladaptive Appraisals and Social-Behavioral Defi cits Interact with Relationship Disturbances to Heighten Risk for Depression ............................................................................................... 386
Premise 4: Maladaptive Relationship Appraisals and SocialBehavioral Defi cits Foster Relationship Disturbances .......................... 389
Premises 5 and 6: Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depression is Intensifi ed During the Transition Through Adolescence; Girls are More Vulnerable to These Transition Effects Than are Boys ............... 391
Social-Contextual Transitions that Create and Interact with Interpersonal Vulnerability .................................................................... 391
Physical-Maturational Transitions that Create and Interact with Interpersonal Vulnerability .................................................................... 394
Cognitive-Developmental Transitions that Create and Interact with Interpersonal Vulnerability .................................................................... 397
Premise 7: Early Family Adversity Contributes to Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depression .................................................................... 399 Early Adversity and Maladaptive Appraisals of Relationships ........... 399 Early Adversity and Social-Behavioral Defi cits .................................... 400 Early Adversity and Relationship Disturbances ................................... 401 Summary ................................................................................................. 402
Premise 8: Depression has Negative Interpersonal Consequences ........... 402 Summary and Future Directions .................................................................... 403 References ........................................................................................................ 405
Adolescence is a stage of life marked by striking transformations in youths’ social worlds. As youth progress through adolescence, they must negotiate the shift from a primary reliance on the family as a context for socialization and support to a more delicate balance between autonomy versus connectedness within the family (Allen, Hauser, Bell, & O’Connor, 1994). Moreover, youth must traverse the increasingly intricate and emotionally demanding landscape of peer and romantic relationships (Furman & Wehner, 1997; Laursen, 1996). Successfully meeting their basic need for relatedness during this pivotal period thus requires that youth possess strong personal and interpersonal resources. These complex social tasks of adolescence provide a developmental context of risk for the emergence of depression, particularly in youth with pre-existing personal characteristics or environmental experiences that compromise their ability to navigate the interpersonal challenges of adolescence. This chapter explores the interpersonal context of adolescent depression, with a focus on characteristics of youth and their environments that amplify or attenuate risk in the face of the social reorganization characterizing the transition through adolescence.
