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Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression
Published on: May 19, 2015
Cognitive deficit or cognitive distortion in childhood depression
P C Kendall1, K D Stark, T Adam
1Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
|June 1, 1990
Summary
Depression in children is linked to negatively biased self-evaluation processing, not cognitive deficits. This study confirms depressed children
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive disturbance and depression are significant concerns in child development.
- Previous research suggests potential links between depressive symptoms and cognitive processing styles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate cognitive disturbance and depression in children.
- To investigate the relationship between depression and self-evaluative information processing in children.
- To determine if negative self-perceptions in depressed children are accurate or distorted.
Main Methods:
- Three studies involving children aged 8-12 years.
- Utilized diagnostic interviews (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children) and self/parent-report inventories (Children's Depression Inventory, Parent-Child Depression Inventory).
- Assessed cognitive processing using the Matching Familiar Figures Test and self-perception via the My Standards Questionnaire, comparing with teacher observations in Study III.
Main Results:
- Depression in children was consistently associated with a negative style of processing self-evaluative information.
- This negative processing style was independent of general cognitive processing deficits.
- Results supported the hypothesis that depressed children exhibit negatively distorted self-perceptions.
Conclusions:
- Depression in children is characterized by a biased negative processing of self-relevant information.
- Findings suggest that therapeutic interventions should address these cognitive biases.
- The study highlights the importance of cognitive processing styles in understanding and treating childhood depression.
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