Title page for ETD etd-11132006-135501

Type of Document

Thesis

Author

Lopez, Cristina Maria

Author's Email Address

lopez@psy.fsu.edu

URN

etd-11132006-135501

Title

Assessment of Children's Response Styles: An Examination of Sex Differences, Stress Interactions, and Depressive Symptoms

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Psychology, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Janet Kistner	Committee Chair
Chris Schatschneider	Committee Member
Thomas Joiner	Committee Member

Keywords

Rumination To Sadness
Measurement
Response Styles Theory

Date of Defense

2006-08-18

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This study evaluated a vignette style measure (CRISES) of children’s response styles to sadness. It looked at the relationship between rumination and depression in children and tested Nolen-Hoeksema’s response styles theory of depression, which was partly developed to explain the emergence of sex differences in depression in adolescence. The theory posits that sex differences in response styles precede sex differences in depression that emerge in adolescence. Adolescent stressors were also hypothesized to interact with rumination to predict changes in depression. With use of the CRISES measure, the positive correlation between rumination and distraction observed in previous studies examining young populations disappeared. More importantly, the CRISES was able to demonstrate the cross-situation consistency of response styles in a sample of children. Although no sex differences were found, response styles theory can be useful in explaining individual differences in symptoms of depression as levels of rumination and distraction were concurrently associated in the predicted directions with scores on the CDI. Furthermore, an interaction of stress and distraction demonstrated the protective influence of distraction from depressive symptomatology in the face of changes in stress.

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