Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1991

Adolescent Depression: Why More Girls?

A n n e C. Petersen, 1 Pamela A . Sarigiani, 2 and Robert E. Kennedy 3

Although there has been evidence for some time of a sex difference in depres- sion, relatively little research has examined the developmental process by which women come to be at greater risk than men for depression. In this paper, the developmental pattern o f depressed affect is examined over early and middle adolescence, with a special focus on the patterns o f boys as com- pared to girls. In addition, a developmental model for mental health in adoles- cence is tested for its power in explaining the emergence of gender differences in depression. Longitudinal data on 335 adolescents randomly selected from two school districts were used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that girls are at risk for developing depressed affect by 12th grade because they experienced more challenges in early adolescence than did boys. The sex difference in depressed affect at 12th grade disappears once early adolescent challenges are considered.

This research was supported in part by grants MH30252/38142 to A. Petersen. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of study participants and staff. Portions of this material were presented in a symposium at the 1988 meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, and one at the 1989 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.

~Professor of Human Development and Dean, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University. Received Ph.D. from University of Chicago in 1973. Research interest in biopsychosocial development in adolescence, with a focus on sex differences in mental health.

2Doctoral student, Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State Lfniversi- ty. Research interests include adolescent mental health, and parent and peer relationships.

3Research Associate, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State Univer- sity. Received Ph.D. in psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. Research interests include development of affective and conduct disorders, especially sex differences in these problems.

247

0047-2891/91/0400-0247506.50/0 �9 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation

248 Petersen et aL

INTRODUCTION

Several studies have identified a sex difference in depression showing more depression among adult women (e.g., Boyd and Weissman, 1986) that appears to emerge by middle adolescence (e.g., Kandel and Davies, 1982). This difference, based largely on cross-sectional data, is particularly interest- ing given that mental health and behavior problems in general are seen more frequently among boys in childhood (Achenbach, 1982), and given that the only studies finding a sex difference in childhood depression have found a greater prevalence among boys (e.g., Pearce, 1977; Rutter, 1986). Thus, sever- al scholars have hypothesized that something changes in early adolescence to cause this reversal of the sex difference. The greater preponderance of depressed adolescent girls and adult women, relative to boys and men, has received significant attention by scholars (e.g., Gove and Herb, 1974; Gove and Tudor, 1973; Rosenfield, 1980), and appears not to be explained by fac- tors such as response bias on questionnaires, greater openness to acknowledg- ing psychological difficulties, and other attributes apart from actual depression experienced by the individual (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987; Weiss- man and' Klerman, 1977). These findings have led several investigators to focus on adolescence as the best age period in which to identify the factors or processes that might explain the greater likelihood that depression would emerge in girls than in boys.

THEORIES PREDICTING SEX DIFFERENCES IN DEPRESSION

Three major theoretical perspectives have the potential to explain the emergence of a sex difference in depression during adolescence: (1) the gender intensification hypothesis (Hill and Lynch, 1983), (2) both internal and ex- ternal coping resources (Thoits, 1986; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987; Abramson et aL, 1978), and (3) stressful life events (Compas, 1987; Kessler and McLeod, 1984; Wethington et al., 1987). The gender intensification hypothesis is the only one that is developmental in nature, with a particular focus on early adolescence. Each of these hypotheses or theories, however, has some sup- port and is conceivably involved with the emergence of a sex difference in depression during adolescence.

Gender Intensification

The gender intensification hypothesis (Hill and Lynch, 1983) posits that pubertal change in early adolescence serves to stimulate increased focus by both boys and girls on the significance of their gender. Because the meaning of gender may be somewhat ambiguous to developing youngsters, they may identify particularly with the stereotype of male or female. Thus, this hypothe-

Adolescent Depression 249

sis predicts that, as they become pubertal, boys will identify more strongly with the masculine stereotype and girls will identify more strongly with the feminine stereotype.

This hypothesis has great conceptual appeal because it can explain gender divergence in a developmental pattern. What remains then is to link the feminine role or stereotype with more depression. This has been demon- strated in several studies (cf. Gove and Tudor, 1973; Radloff, 1975). For example, several studies have found depression to be associated with partic- ipation in stereotypically feminine social roles such as housewife (cf. Bar- nett and Baruch, 1987). Also, Landrine (1988) found that the stereotype of a depressed person is perceived by college students as resembling the stereo- type of a female, whereas the male stereotype is seen as involving a lack of depression. In contrast with these findings, however, most studies of adults and adolescents have found no relationship, or a very weak one, between subjects' feminine sex role identity and their level of self-reported depres- sion; the consistent finding in these studies is a significant negative relation- ship between masculine identity and depression (Whitely, 1985). This pattern has been found among both college students (Nezu and Nezu, 1987; Stop- pard and Paisley, 1987) and younger adolescents (Craighead and Green, 1989; Kennedy, 1989). Thus, depression seems to be associated with a self-reported lack of masculine characteristics rather than the presence of feminine charac- teristics.

Unfortunately, studies that have looked for evidence of gender diver- gence in adolescence in identification with same-sex stereotypes have not found clearly supportive results. Although we found that boys and girls both increased at parallel rates in masculinity and femininity over the early adoles- cent years, with boys higher in masculinity and girls higher in femininity (Petersen and Ebata, 1987b), we also found that relative to femininity (as a covariate), masculinity increased significantly more among young adoles- cent boys than girls (Kennedy, 1989). These results suggest that masculine identification coud play a role in lower depression among boys. To our knowledge, however, this has not been tested directly.

The gender intensification hypothesis predicts that sex role identity should change in response to becoming pubertal. In our research, however, sex role identity was not linked to pubertal status or timing in any consistent way in our research (Petersen and Ebata, 1987b). However, Newcombe and Bandura (1983) found that earlier pubertal maturation positively correlated with the Femininity scale of the California Psychological Inventory in their study of 11-year-old girls. Thus, evidence that pubertal change could initi- ate a process linking sex role to depression is inconclusive. One study (Brooks- Gunn and Warren, 1989) did find elevated levels of depressed affect in girls linked to early pubertal hormone increases; it is unclear at present how this apparently temporary increase in depression early in puberty among girls

250 Petersen et aL

(boys were not investigated) might contribute to the more enduring sex differ- ences in depression.

It is possible that gender intensification plays a role in the emergence of depression, but a more complex one than originally hypothesized. First, it may be that this process operates quite differently for boys and girls. For example, we have found that the gender identification of young adolescent boys is primarily antifeminine whereas young adolescent girls identified posi- tively with masculine and feminine characteristics (Crockett et al., 1989). Second, puberty is likely to have different meaning for boys and girls. Several studies have found that puberty usually has positive meaning for boys, be- cause it makes them bigger and stronger (e.g., Petersen and Taylor, 1980), whereas pubertal change typically has some negative aspects for adolescent girls (Petersen, 1979). For girls, puberty brings an often unwelcome body shape and reproductive potential. Pubertal girls develop fatty deposits charac- teristic of adult women (Dornbusch et al., 1984). In the United States and in many European countries today, lean prepubertal shapes are preferred by young women (e.g., Faust, 1983). 4

Early developing girls especially will have rounder, nonpreferred shapes relative to their less developed peers in early adolescence; several studies have found that early developing girls have more problems with body image, self- esteem, and other areas relative to on-time or later developing girls (e.g., Tobin-Richards et al., 1983). These problems appear to persist at least to 12th grade (Petersen et al., in press). Whether the body image problems of early developing girls explain the increased incidence of depression and depressed affect among girls requires investigation. However, Teri (1982) did find a significant relationship between body image and depression among adolescents. In addition, distortion of body image has been found to charac- terize depressed females more than depressed males among both adolescents (Baron and Joly, 1988; Hammen and Padesky, 1977) and adults (Vreden- berg et al., 1986).

Coping Resources

External resources, primarily in the form of social support (Thoits, 1986), as well as internal resources, usually described as coping style (e.g., Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987), have been linked to the emergence or amelioration of depression in adults. Although there has

4In a recent study of Berlin girls (Silbereisen et aL, in press), early maturing young adolescents had better self-esteem than late maturers, suggesting that mature shapes were preferred by them.

Adolescent Depression 251

been a little work suggesting that social support operates differently for men and women (e.g., Belle, 1987), further investigation is needed to determine whether social support plays a role in the greater incidence of depression among adolescent girls. We have some evidence from prior analyses that close relationships with parents, especially with fathers, serve as protective fac- tors on several indicators of adjustment more consistently for girls than for boys (Sarigiani and Petersen, 1989).

As for internal resources, the most relevant theoretical statement is that of Nolen-Hoeksema (1987). Reviewing the literature on sex differences in unipolar depression, she concluded that "men are more likley to engage in distracting behaviors that dampen their mood when depressed, but women are more likely to amplify their moods by ruminating about their depressed states and the possible causes of these states" (p. 259). She argues that men and women are socialized into these coping styles with the sex role stereo- types related to emotionality. Whether this explains the differential emer- gence of depressed affect in adolescence requires further investigation. Adolescent girls have been found to rate negative life events as more stressful than boys (e.g., Newcomb et al., 1986; Siddique and D'Arcy, 1984), a pat- tern consistent with Nolen-Hoeksema's (1987) hypothesis. In addition, Cramer (1979) found that adolescent girls reported using "internalizing" defense m e c h a n i s m s - t u r n i n g against the self, intellectualization, and rationalization-more than boys. In contrast, boys reported using "exter- nalizing" mechanisms- projection, turning against others - more than girls.

Stressful Life Events

Many studies have demonstrated the links between stressful life events and various negative health and mental health outcomes for adults (Andrews and Tennant, 1978; Cohen, 1988; Kessler et al., 1985; Lloyd, 1980; Paykel, 1978). Less attention has focused on children and adolescents, and develop- mental processes generally. The existing body of research (e.g., Compas, 1987; Garmezy and Rutter, 1983) suggests that the processes are similar at youn- ger ages, although not always with as strong or enduring effects (Compas, 1987; Haggerty, 1980; Rutter, 1983). It is clear that children and adolescents do experience the entire range of stressful life events, except those linked to older age or particular adult status (e.g., marriage). In addition, Compas et al. (1985) found that among young adolescents (ages 12-14) girls reported more negative daily events than boys, but this difference was not found among older adolescents.

One relatively clear finding in the adult literature on the effects of stress- ful life events is that such effects are usually more negative among women

252 Petersen et al.

(Kessler and McLeod, 1984). Although the pattern of gender differences does not appear to be strong among children and adolescents, it has been girls who have shown the most negative reactions to life events in almost all the studies that have found significant gender differences in such reactions (Com- pas, 1987).

In addition to life events, children and adolescents experience age-related or normative developmental stresses. For example, school entry and the ad- dition of a new younger sibling have been related to changes in behavior (e.g., Dunn et al., 1981). In early adolescence, there are significant age-related changes. Indeed, youngsters experience change in every aspect of individual development and in every major social context (Petersen, 1987). All of this change is likely to challenge youngsters, stimulating some to further develop- ment but overwhelming others. In addition, there is evidence that normal developmental changes are best mastered when they occur sequentially rather than simultaneously (Coleman, 1978); with all the change in early adoles- cence, it is more likely that at least some changes will occur simultaneously. Simmons and colleagues (Simmons et al., 1987) have found that the number of changes experienced in early adolescence is significantly related to poorer self-esteem.

DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL FOR ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH

Based on these and other results, we have developed a model for ex- plaining the development of mental health in adolescence (Petersen and Ebata, 1987a). (See Fig. 1 .) This model acknowledges the contributions of previous development; indeed, we hypothesize that those who reach early adolescence having already experienced mental health difficulties in childhood will have increased difficulties with the challenges of the early adolescent transition. The model includes the combined effects of the timing and nature of changes, changes that may be either stressful life events or normative developmental changes. The model also acknowledges the moderating or buffering effects that family and peer support can have, a major factor in the stressful life events literature (e.g., Thoits, 1986). Finally, it incorporates coping responses (e.g., emotional vs. problem solving) as a factor influencing the ultimate ef- fects of changes.

In our research thus far, we have found that prior mental health status is especially important for boys (Ebata, 1987). Young adolescent boys who reported experiencing significant periods of depression during Grades 6-8 were more likely to have had mother reports of mental health difficulties during childhood and to be in the poorer third of the distribution on a

Adolescent Depression 253

Peer & / Psrent

Support /

I buffer

Coping / / Reopon... /

Mental Health Trajectory

Childhood Early Adolescent Adolescence Transition

Fig. 1. Model of the development of mental health in adolescence.

depressed affect measure at all three grades. Girls, in contrast, were more likely to become depressed during the early adolescent years.

We have not yet explored the effects of all prossible changes during early adolescence, but we have found that experiencing simultaneous peak pubertal change (i.e., the period of fastest growth in height) prior to or simul- taneous with school change (from elementary to middle or junior high school) has negative effects on depressed affect during early adolescence (Petersen and Ebata, 1986). In addition, experiencing a change in the family (e.g., parental death or divorce) is related to depressed affect for girls but not for boys during early adolescence (Kennedy and Petersen, 1991). As mentioned before, early developing girls tended to have more difficulties during early adolescence (Tobin-Richards et al., 1983).

Thus, the nature and number of changes in early adolescence appear to be related to depressed affect in early adolescence. The focus of the present paper is on whether the effects are temporary or enduring; that is, do they persist to the end of middle adolescence, or 12th grade? In particular, we also focus on whether the model is useful in explaining the emergence or development of differences between boys and girls. The roles of peer and parent support and coping style are also examined.

254 Petersen et al.

Table I. Cohort-Sequential Longitudinal Design"

Grade

Cohort (birth year) 6 7 8 12 12 + 4

I (1967) 78-79 79-80 80-81 84-85 88-89 II (1968) 79-80 80-81 81-82 85-86 89-90

~ entries indicate year for testing.

METHODS

Design

The design for this research is cohort-sequential longitudinal (Baltes, 1968; Schaie, 1965), with two cohorts serving primarily as replicates. We did not have a prior hypothesis about differences in successive birth cohorts and few differences have emerged. Thus, for most analyses the cohorts are com- bined. Adolescents were assessed in the 6th through 8th grades, and then followed again in the 12th grade. 5 The design for this research is shown in Table I.

Sample

Students from the 6th grades of two suburban, middle to upper middle- class school districts were selected randomly to participate in this research. About 80% of the parents who were contacted agreed that they and their child would participate; refusals (or nonresponses) were evenly distributed across cohorts, school districts, and schools. Of the 335 subjects initially en- rolled, 6% dropped out of the research during early adolescence and another 5% moved away from the school districts, leaving 302 participants after the early adolescent years, a figure remarkably close to our target of 300.

We conducted a follow-up study of these youngsters in 12th grade. Here attrition was greater, due to both refusals and failure to contact. 6 We have data on 72% of the families at follow-up, but only 52% of the adolescents

SA follow-up four years after 12th grade is currently underway. 6petersen, the principal investigator, moved from the original study city prior to the 12th-grade follow-up. A survey research firm was contracted to manage the follow-up but produced dis- appointing results that suggested poor procedures.

Adolescent Depression 255

(n = 169). It is notable that in a recent recontact of the Cohort I subjects, we have interviewed 75~ of the adolescents. Thus far, we have discovered no sample bias in the early adolescent data of those on whom we have 12th- grade data compared to those on whom we are missing 12th-grade data.

Additional descriptive data on the sample are provided by Richardson and colleagues (1984). Briefly, the parents are highly educated (75~ of the fathers and 55~ of the mothers had at least a college degree). Fathers' oc- cupational prestige averaged 56 (standard deviation was 14) on the national Opinion Research Center scale (scale range is 9-82) and two-thirds of the mothers worked outside the home at least part time. No more than 15o70 of the adolescents lived in single-parent homes during early adolescence.

Assessment Design and Procedure

During early adolescence, data were obtained through individual in- terviews twice annually and through group assessments at the same frequen- cy. In the 12th-grade follow-up, questionnaires were sent out in advance and collected during an individual interview. The constructs included mental health in the domains of self, peer, school, and family; cognitive abilities and development; and sex role. Table II shows measures obtained in early adolescence. Similar measures were obtained in 12th grade with the deletion of cognitive ability (due to noncomparability of measures at this older age) and the addition of more depression measures as well as measures to tap age-appropriate constructs (e.g., work values and problem behavior). Descrip- tions of specific measures in the present study follow.

Variables and Measures

Early Adolescent Change

Three aspects of early adolescent change were investigated in the present study: pubertal timing, synchronicity of pubertal timing and school change, and family changes. Each of these will be described in turn.

Pubertal timing is defined here as age at peak height velocity (i.e., age at which growth is fastest). Age at peak height velocity was estimated using a maximum likelihood estimation procedure developed by Bock and col- leagues (Bock et al., 1973; Thissen et al., 1976). This procedure begins with Bayesian priors based on the major U.S. growth studies. Longitudinal anal- yses of data from these growth studies verify the validity of a triple logistic function representing growth in stature from birth to maturity.

256 Petersen et aL

Table II. Assessments in the Early Adolescence Study

Assessments Description Frequency

For adolescents

Interview Semistructured; focuses on school, Twice annually friends, family and self

Self-Image Questionnaire Nine scales and total score of Annually for Young Adolescents adjustment

Cognitive Measures Formal operations (Linn, Peel); Annually spatial ability (Primary Mental Abilities, Water Level, Group Embedded Figures Test)

Sentence Completion T e s t Measures state of ego development Annually (Loevinger)

Sex Role Inventories Bern Sex Role Inventory; Attitudes Annually Toward Women Scale for Adolescents

Lowman Inventory of Family Measures feelings about family 6th and 8th Feelings members grades

School Achievement Average grade point average, Obtained once standardized achievement and for all three IQ test scores grades

For parents

Interview Parallels child interview plus 6th and 8th grades

Parent Offer Self-Image Parent report of child's self-image 6th and 8th Questionnaire grades

Lowman Inventory of family Measures feelings about family 6th and 8th Feelings members grades

Height data collected over Grades 6-8 were used to estimate age at peak height velocity. In one school district, height was measured annual ly f rom kindergarten th rough 8th grade by the school nurse. These objective data obtained f rom the school records were used to estimate age at peak height velocity in this school district. Objective height data were not available in the second school district; consequently, adolescents ' self-reports o f height obta ined in the interviews were used to make estimates. Compar i son o f the self-report and objective data indicated that the self-report da ta were valid (Crocket t et al., 1987), and there is considerable overlap in estimates based on the two sources o f height data (Petersen and Crocket t , 1985).

The relative synchrony between pubertal timing and school change (tran- sition f rom elementary to junior high or middle school) was indexed by a third variable identifying the extent o f synchrony between them. Subjects

Adolescent Depression 257

Table IlL Synchrony of Pubertal Change s and School Transition for Boys and Girls

Boys Girls (%) (%)

PHV > 6 months before transition 1.1 36.4 PHV within 6 months of transition 11.6 43.0 PHV > 6 months after transition 87.4 20.7

"Indexed by age at peak height velocity (PHV).

were placed in one of three groups. The first group included those adoles- cents who experienced peak pubertal change (i.e., age at peak height veloci- ty) more than six months prior to school change. School and pubertal change were synchronous for the second group of adolescents, for whom peak puber- tal change occurred within six months of school change. The third group was comprised of those adolescents who experienced peak pubertal growth more than six months after the change from elementary to junior high or middle school. Puberty is most likely to be synchronous with school change for girls and to follow it for boys. (See Table III.)

Four family changes comprised the family change index in the current study: parental divorce or separation, death of a family member, illness of a family member, and departure of a family member from the home. Three of these family changes were obtained from the 8th-grade parent interview. Each parent was asked the following question: "Have there been any sig- cant changes in your family since the last time we talked?" Responses were coded for the presence or absence of the following changes: divorce/separation of the parents, death of a family member, and illness of a family member. 7 Departure of siblings or other family members from the home was determined by comparing each adolescent's report of family com- position given during the 6th-grade interview with the parental report of family composition given during the 8th-grade interview. Instances of siblings going away to college, even though they continued to live at home during the summers, were included in this category.

7Other changes were also coded from these responses: major behavior problem with the adoles- cent subject at home or at school, major behavior problems with another child, problems be- tween the subject and siblings, parental job change, financial family problem, affective family problem, and addition of someone to the home. These changes were excluded from the family changes index because they were possibly confounded with outcome variables (e.g., behavior problems with subject), were mostly positive in the current sample (e.g., job changes were mostly promotions), or were not events per se (e.g., affective family problem). Previous analyses ex- amining the effect of changes on adjustment in early adolescence reveal that the results were substantively identical for the index of family change used in the current study and for the index including the additional changes (Kennedy and Petersen, 1989).

258 Petersen et aL

Depressed A f f ec t

The primary dependent variable is depressed affect in 12th grade. Three measures were examined: Emotional Tone from the Self-Image Question- naire for Young Adolescents (SIQYA; Petersen et al., 1984), the Kandel Depression Scale (Kandel and Davies, 1982), and a clinical epidemiological question about depressive episodes from the Teenager or Young Adult Sched- ule (TOYS; Gittelman et al., 1985).

The Emotional Tone scale is one of nine scales of the SIQYA, a mul- tidimensional measure of self-image. Responses on a 6-point Likert-type scale range from (1) describes me very well to (6) does not describe me at all. The 11-item Emotional Tone scale provides an index of negative as well as posi- tive feelings of well-being, and it taps dimensions such as depression and anxiety. Reliabilities, as measured by alpha coefficients of interitem consisten- cy, are .81 for boys and .85 for girls (Petersen et al., 1984).

In 12th-grade the adolescents completed the Kandel Depression Scale (Kandel and Davies, 1982), a 6-item, 5-point Likert-type scale. Adolescents were asked to describe how often they were bothered or troubled by feelings indicative of depressive mood in the past year (e.g., "feeling unhappy, sad, or depressed").

The TOYS is an epidemiological interview based on the NIMH Diag- nostic Interview Schedule (DIS). The item that indicates episodes of depres- sive mood was incorporated into the adolescent interview in 8th and 12th-grades. The question was as follows: "Since you started 6th grade (high school), have there been any periods lasting two weeks or more when you felt sad, blue, depressed, or when you lost all interest in things that you usually cared about?" Adolescents reported incidence (yes/no) and frequency (cod- ed 0-8) of depressive mood.

Social Support

For these analyses, we examined the mediating effects of closeness to best friends and each parent. The Father, Mother, and Friend Closeness scales were used to assess the quality of closeness the adolescent perceived in rela- tionships with his/her father, mother, and closest friend. The current study uses 8th-grade relationship closeness data. These scales are based on a series of questions regarding relationships with social network members used by Blyth and colleagues (Blyth et aL, 1982). The scales include questions such as "How much does your mother (father, friend) understand what you're really like?" The Friend scale contains 8 items, while the Mother and Father scales are identical to one another and contain 5 items. Adolescents responded to these relationship questions using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from

Adolescent Depression 259

not at all to very much. Alphas range f rom .75 to .89 for the Mother and Father scales, and from .80 to .87 for the Friend scale.

Coping Responses

In the early adolescent data we had not yet incorporated coping response measures. Because Nolen-Hoeksema's hypothesis links coping with sex role, we examined the mediating effects of sex role identity in early adolescence. The Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bern, 1974) was used to measure sex- role identity. The 60-item questionnaire requires subjects to indicate the degree to which specific adjectives representing personality characteristics describe them. These ratings are made on a 7-point scale where responses range f rom Never or A lmos t Never True to Always or A l mos t Always True. Previous research suggests that the 60-item form produces biased scale scores; conse- quently, a more valid subset of 20 items was used to compute scale scores (Bem, 1981). Two 10-item scales are derived f rom this 20-item pool. The Femi- ninity scale includes 10 items representing characteristics considered more desirable in females, and the Masculinity scale consists of 10 items represent- ing characteristics deemed more desirable in males.

RESULTS

Developmental Change in Depressed Affect

The first question is whether there are sex differences in depressed af- fect in our sample. In early adolescence, when we initially expected differ- ences to emerge, they were not found (Abramowitz et al., 1984). By 12th grade, however, the differences were quite clear. Table IV shows means and standard deviations by sex for Emotional Tone and the Kandel Depression Scale. The multivariate effect for sex was F = 4.40 (p = .0145), with sig- nificant univariate effects for each scale (Emotional Tone F = 6.08, p = .02; Kandel F = 8.17, p = .005). Other analyses revealed effect sizes for sex ranging f rom .32 to .52 on various self-esteem and depression measures in 12th grade (Petersen et al., 1987).

Table IV. Means and Standard Deviations by Sex for the 12th- Grade Emotional Tone and Kandel Depression Scales

Boys Girls

SIQYA Emotional Tone 5.00(.72) 4.68(.80) Kandel Depressive Mood 2.21(.68) 2.60(.77)

260 Petersen et aL

EMOTIONAL TONE 5.25

5.00

4 . 7 5

4.50

S- J

f

4 , 2 5 I I = I = I 0 7 8 g 10 11

Year in School

EAL8: Early Adolesoenoe Longf tudlnal Sample FLS: FOl lOw-up Longl t t~ l lna l 8ample

-B- Female-EAL$

--$- Male-EALS

"~- Female-FL$

--'$- Male-FL8

Fig. 2. Developmental pattern of emotional tone from 6th to 12th grade.

Longitudinal analyses of depressed affect measures tell a similar story. Figure 2 shows the developmental pattern of Emotional Tone from 6th to 12th grade. As the figure reveals, the scores for girls show decline beginning in 8th grade, with the scores for boys remaining at a relatively constant lev- el. Figure 3 plots the longitudinal data on reports of depressive episodes over early adolescence (Grades 6-8) compared to middle adolescence (Grades 9-12). Here, rates increase significantly for both boys and girls, from 28~ in early adolescence to 59070 in middle adolescence for girls, and about the same early adolescent rate (25070) for boys to 40070 in middle adolescence. The sex difference at 12th grade is significant (X 2 = 4.71, p = .03).

Explanations for Emerging Sex Differences

Hierarchical regression analyses (on Emotional Tone and Kandel) and a hierarchical logistic regression analysis (on depressive episodes) were used to test whether changes experienced during early adolescence could explain the sex difference in depressed affect at 12th grade. The results are shown in Table V. For both the Emotional Tone and Kandel analyses, the model

Adolescent Depression 261

PERCENT REPORTING DEPRESSIVE EPISODE 70%

60~

60%

40%

{}0%

20%

10~

0% 8th

GRADE

. \ \ \ ' ,~ b.x.x.x.x..x~ \ x x x x \ x

~ x x x x x \

N \ X \ X \ X , x x x x x \ ~

12th

GIRLS

F'--I BOYS

Fig. 3. Reports of depressive episodes in early and middle adolescence.

Table V. Early Adolescent Predictors of 12-Grade Depression: Summary of Hierarchical Regres- sion Analyses

I. Explaining sex differences in depressed affect

Entered first in model Entered second in

model

Early adolescent predictors Model Sex Model

APHV SYNCH NBDEVENT (07o variance) (070 variance)

Emotional Tone ns

Kandel Depression ns

Depressive Episodes (DE) =

ns (17%) = ns (17%) =

ns (11%) ns (12%) =

ns ns (1%)

II. Explaining changes in depressed affect

ns (1%)

First in model Second Third

Covariate (6th ET, Model APHV SYNCH NBDEVENT Model Sex Model 8th DE) (070) (070) (070)

ET b (4070) b ns = b (20070) = ns (2007o) = DE a (707o) = = ns ns (9%) = ns (8%) =

=p < .05. bp = .06.

262 Petersen et aL

with pubertal timing (APHV), synchronicity of pubertal and school change (SYNCH), and negative family events (NBDEVENT) is highly significant, explaining 17~ of the variance in Emotional Tone (ET; F = 6.11, p = .0008) and 11070 of the variance in Kandel Depression (F = 3.79, p = .01). In both cases, the synchronicity variable is the only one to attain significance (on ET,/3 = .39, p = .04; on Kandel,/3 = - .45, p = .02). When sex is added to the model, it fails to contribute significantly for either dependent vari- able. Therefore, the model, and especially synchronicity of pubertal timing and school change, explains sex differences in depression at 12th grade.

The results o f the parallel analyses for depressive episodes are similar, except that in this case the adolescent change that is related to high school depressed affect is pubertal timing. The model with APHV, SYNCH, and NBDEVENT is significant (X213] = 8.00, p < .05), as is the individual ef- fect for A P H V (X2[1] = 4.48, p < .05), but not those for SYNCH or NBDEVENT. When sex is added to this model, it contributes little predic- tive power (X2[1] = 0.30, ns) and the resulting model is no longer signifi- cant, (X214] = 8.33, p = .08).

When sex is tested first in the model on Emotional Tone, it is signifi- cant (-13 = .28, p = .06; model F = 7.86, p = .006, R 2 = .08); although both synchronicity and family changes approach significance, A P H V does not add significant variance (SYNCH:/3 = .38, p = .52; NBDEVENT:/3 = .18, p = .06; model F = 4.63, p = .002, R 2 = .17). With Kandel Depres- sion, sex is significant when tested first (/3 = .26, p = .01; model F = 6.71, p = .01, R 2 = .07). However, only synchronicity adds significant variance after sex (SYNCH:/3 = - .43, p = .03; model F = 3.01, p = .02, R 2 = �9 12). Therefore, with Kandel depression, sex fails to subsume variance con- tributed by synchronicity.

For depressive episodes, sex is significant when entered alone (X2[1] = 4.99, p < .025)�9 However, when SYNCH and NBDEVENT are added to the model, the sex effect is then nonsignificant (X2[1] = 0.30, ns) as are the APHV, SYNCH, and NBDEVENT effects and the entire model (x213] = 8.33, p > .08).

Explaining Change in Depressed Affect

When change in depressed affect (ET) is examined, by first covarying 6th-grade Emotional Tone, the results are similar. Sixth-grade Emotional Tone is not significantly related to the same measure at 12th grade, although the effect approaches significance (model F = 3.62, p = .06, R 2 = .04). Syn- chronicity adds significant variance when added next, family changes ap- proaches significance, but A P H V is not significant (SYNCH: /3 = .40, p = .04; NBDEVENT"/3 = .18, p = .06; model F = 5.60, p = .0004, R 2

Adolescent Depression 263

= .20). Sex does not contribute significantly when added next. Thus, change in depressed affect is also predicted by early adolescent changes.

When change in depressive episodes is examined in logistic regression analyses, the 8th-grade covariate is highly significant when entered first (X2[1] = 12.34, p < .0005). When the early adolescent changes are added to the model, they add significant explanatory power beyond the 8th-grade covariate (X213] = 8.18, p < .05), but the only significant individual change effect is that for APHV (X2[I] = 6.54, p < .02). Sex, added third, does not add signifi- cant predictive power (X2[1] = 0.33, ns) although the entire model remains sig- nificant (X215] = 21.93, p < .001).

Separate regression analyses for each gender suggested that the early adolescent changes that influence the development of depressed affect among girls are different from those among boys. For the regression of 12th-grade Emotional Tone on APHV, SYNCH, and NBDEVENT, SYNCH produced an effect that approached significance for girls (~ = .42, p = .09) but not for boys (/~ = .21, ns), whereas the NBDEVENT effect was significant for boys (8 = .33, p = .03) but not for girls (/3 = . 10, ns). This pattern was found for each Emotional Tone analysis with one of the different covariates examined in the main analyses, including Emotional Tone in early adoles- cence. It is important to note that the significant regression weight for boys is positive rather than negative, indicating that the occurrence of negative family events in early adolescence was associated with higher rather than lower Emotional Tone in 12th grade, even with Emotional Tone in early adoles- cence partialled from the relationship.

For the regression of the Kandel Depression Scale on the early adoles- cent changes, none of the individual effects were significant for boys, whereas SYNCH was significant for girls (~ = - .52, p = .04). For the logistic regres- sion of the depressive episode data on early adolescent changes, again none of the effects were significant for boys, but the APHV effect was significant for girls (X2[1] = 5.46, r = - .20 , p < .02). This pattern was found for each logistic regression with one of the different covariates examined in the main analyses, including depressive episodes in early adolescence.

The nature of the effect of synchronicity of pubertal and school change can be seen in analyses with Emotional Tone. As described in the measures section (p. 255, Table III), the distributions of boys and girls are quite differ- ent on synchronicity; most of the boys (87.4%) experienced peak pubertal growth at least six months after changing to a secondary school format, whereas most (79.4%)of the girls experienced peak pubertal growth before (36.4%) or within six months (43.0~ of the school transition. As Fig. 4 reveals, for both boys and girls, it is better to go through puberty after chang- ing schools. This effect is not, however, simply a proxy for sex, as it shows effects within sex as well as between. In early adolescence, girls in the lon- gitudinal sample who experienced peak pubertal growth prior to or at about

264 Petersen et aL

MOTIONAL TONE 5,2

6.0

4.e ~ . ..... O .... .~ ................ . . . 0

i~.:.. . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ ......... 4.6

f '. . . . . . . . . ~. ~- . ..... 4,4 r

# 4 . 2 I I I i I I I

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

GRADE APHV: Age ~ peak height ve loc i ty 8T: 8ohoo l t r e r~ l t l on from elementary to Junior h igh ~hO01.

-m- BOYS: APHV AFTER ST

�9 ..0.- BOYS: BOTH Wl 0 MO.

--B- GIRLS: APHV AFTER ST

,..0-- GIRLS'. BOTH Wl 6 MO.

-'~- GIRLS: APHV BEF. ST

Fig. 4. Emotional tone across adolescence by synchronicity of school and puber- tal change group.

the same time as the school transition were .37-.63 of a standard deviation lower in Emotional Tone at 8th grade than girls whose peak growth was six months or more after the school transition, yielding a moderate effect size (Rosenthal and Rosnow, 1984). By 12th grade, girls who experienced puberty at least six months before the school transition were more than three-fourths of a standard deviation lower in Emotional Tone than girls with peak growth after the transition, and girls who experienced peak pubertal change within six months of the school transition were about one-fourth of a standard devi- ation lower than the girls with peak growth after the tansition. Among boys at 8th and 12th grades, those who experienced simultaneous pubertal and school change were about two-thirds of a standard deviation lower in Emo- tional Tone. There were too few boys who experienced puberty prior to the school transition to analyze at 12th grade. Although the pattern is similar for boys and girls, the particular vulnerability of girls needs to be highlight- ed here, as they are much more likely to experience puberty prior to or syn- chronous with school change than are boys.

Buffering Effects of Coping Resources

Closeness with best friend, mother, and father, all at 8th grade, were added to the models as initial covariates to test potential buffering effects on 12th-grade Emotional Tone. Interestingly, while the covariates for mother and father were both positive and significant (MOMINT-/3 = .24, p = .02; model F = 5.62, R 2 = .06; DADINT: /3 = .35, p = .0008; model F =

Adolescent Depression 265

11.95, R 2 = .12), that for best friend was negative and not significant (FRDINT:/3 -- - .06, p > .05; model F = .33, R 2 = .004). With all three covariates, early adolescence change added significantly (FRDINT: model F = 4.80, p = .002, R 2 = . 1 8 ; MOMINT: model F = 5.58, p = .0005, R 2 = .21; DADINT: model F = 6.55, p = .0001, R 2 = .24), as before, and sex failed to contribute significantly. Closeness with mother appeared to buffer negative effects o f family changes (/3 -- .13, p = ns), but not syn- chronous school and pubertal change (~ = .43, p = .03); closeness with father, in contrast, buffered both synchronous school and pubertal change (/3 = .31, p = ns) and family change (fl = .20, p = ns). Thus, closeness with mother and especially father appear to moderate or buffer the effects of early adolescent changes.

Neither masculinity nor femininity at 6th grade were related significantly to 12th-grade Emotional Tone (MASC 6:/3 = . 14, p = ns; model F = 1.95, R 2 = . 0 2 ; FEM 6:/3 = .15 ,p = ns; m o d e l F = 2.28, R 2 = .02). With both, however, early adolescent change contributed significant variance (MASC: model F = 4.82, p = .001, R 2 = .17; FEM: model F = 5.48, p = .0005, R 2 ---- . 19) . Synchronous school and pubertal change were significant for both masculinity (/3 = .38, p = .05) and femininity (/3 = .38, p = .05). Sex con- tributed no significant variance in either model. Thus, early adolescent sex role identity appears to play no role in later depressed affect.

The 8th-grade intimacy variables are related to depressive episodes in high school but the sex role measures are not. Int imacy with mother and with father are each significant when entered first (X2[1] : - 3.95, p < .05, and X2[1] = 9.74, p < .005, respectively). Although friend intimacy is not sig- nificant when entered first, (X211] ---- 0 . 3 8 , n s ) , it is significant when early adolescent changes and sex are added to the model (X2[1 ] ----- 4.38, p < .05). In each case, the 8th-grade intimacy measure is negatively related to depres- sive episodes. In contrast, neither masculinity nor femininity is significant when entered first ( X 2 [ I ] = 0 . 5 8 , n s , and X2[1] -- 0.16, ns, respectively). Also, neither measure approaches significance when changes and sex are ad- ded to the model. As with the analyses for 8th-grade depressive episodes as the covariate, the addition of early adolescent changes adds significant predic- tive power when added to the model for each coping resource measure, with A P H V but not the other changes showing a significant individual effect in each analysis. On the other hand, sex does not add significantly to the model for any of the resource measures when entered last after the individual mea- sure and the early adolescent changes.

DISCUSSION

These results provided evidence that girls showed significantly more depressed affect and poorer emotional tone than boys by 12th grade (17

266 Petersen et al.

years). This difference appeared to emerge at about the 8th grade (13 years) and then to increase over subsequent years. These data do not reveal whether gender divergence emerges steadily (i.e., linearly) over this period, or with a curvilinear pattern.

Furthermore, the sex difference in depressed affect appears to be relat- ed to changes experienced in early adolescence. Pubertal change prior to or simultaneous with school change affected both boys and girls to similar ex- tents. As pubertal change prior to or simultaneous with school change is more likely to occur in girls, these findings offer some insight as to why the gender divergence in mental health emerges at adolescence, at which time girls be- come at greater risk for depressive disorders. Brooks-Gunn et al. (in press) found that depressive affect was more likely to be exhibited in early matur- ing girls who had experienced negative family and school events than in later maturing girls, providing further evidence for the negative affective conse- quences of coinciding stressful events (developmental and nonnormative) in adolescence.

Early pubertal timing showed long-term negative effects only for girls. Most studies examining the psychological outcomes of pubertal timing have focused on outcomes in early adolescence. The current study indicates that the negative effects observed in early adolescence persist into middle adoles- cence. As suggested earlier, this depressive affect may be related to negative body image. Brooks-Gunn (1988) concludes that body image is the psy- chological ~,ariable most affected by early maturation in females.

The finding among boys of a positive relationship of negative family events with both 12th-grade Emotional Tone and residual change in Emo- tional Tone from 8th to 12th grade contradicts expectations based on the consistent finding of a negative relationship between stressful life events and adjustment in longitudinal studies among adults (Kessler et al., 1985). However, in such longitudinal studies among adolescents this negative rela- tionship has not often been found (Compas, 1987). In addition, analyses of the family event and adjustment relationship during early adolescence in the longitudinal sample from which the sample for the current study was drawn found a positive relationship between these events and changes in adjust- ment between 6th and 8th grade among boys and a negative relationship among girls (Kennedy and Petersen, 1991). Although these effects were not found for changes in Emotional Tone during early adolescence, they were found for depressive episodes and changes in fathers' ratings of youngsters' adjustment. Thus, the current finding of an enhancing effect among boys of negative family events during early adolescence on subsequent changes in adjustment is consistent with previous findings in the same longitudinal sample and indicates that these events may lead during early adolescence to

Adolescent Depression 267

a change in the developmental trajectory of depressed affect among boys that has a continuing effect on development long after the occurrence of the events.

The positive effect of negative events on adjustment among boys may seem counterintuitive. However, Rutter (1981) has proposed that stressful events may have a "steeling" effect on children and adolescents if these events lead the youngsters to develop effective skills for coping with stress or in- crease their confidence in the skills they already possess. Thus, one interpre- tation of the family event and adjustment relationships found in our longitudinal sample is that negative family events during early adolescence induce boys, but not girls, to develop coping responses that are effective in reducing depressed affect. This interpretation is consistent with Nolen- Hoeksema's (1987) conclusion that the most likely source of the gender differ- ence in depression is a gender difference in methods used to cope with stressful problems and the emotional distress that often results from them.

The results of the current study provide some evidence for the positive role of coping resources in moderating the long-term effects of early adoles- cent changes on depressive mood. Specifically, the findings suggest that close- ness with parents moderates the negative effects of early adolescent changes on emotional tone and depressive episodes in middle adolescence. Pubertal development and the time period of early adolescence are associated with changes in the parent-child relationship (e.g., Steinberg, 1981; Montemayor, 1983). The current findings imply that when parents and adolescents can achieve or maintain closeness in the face of these relationship changes, the long-term negative effects of other early adolescent changes (e.g., synchronous school and pubertal transitions) are attenuated.

The idea that adolescents need an "arena of comfort" (Simmons et al., 1987) in coping with early adolescent transitions is relevant here. Specifical- ly, close relationships with parents may mediate the long-term effects of early adolescent changes on depressive mood through the provision of one impor- tant sphere of security and comfort in the adolescent's rapidly changing world. The results indicate that social support from intimate friendships does not moderate the effects of early adolescent changes. Therefore, the protective effect of intimate relationships is not generalized, but rather it is specific to the parent-adolescent relationship.

In conclusion, the current investigation provides evidence for the en- during effects of experiences in early adolescence on depressive affect. The findings indicate that the gender differences in depressive disorders evident at 12th grade are explained by the experience of early adolescent changes. Those changes with the most consistent long-term negative effects are early pubertal timing and synchronous school and pubertal change. Interventions

268 Petersen et al.

f o c u s e d o n c o p i n g skil ls a n d p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i ons t a r g e t e d at t h o s e y o u n g

ado l e scen t s u n d e r g o i n g m u l t i p l e changes c o u l d p o s s i b l y he lp p r e v e n t the i r

d e v e l o p m e n t o f d e p r e s s i o n in m i d d l e ado le scence .

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