BRIEF INTERVENTION MAY PREVENT INCREASED RISK OF DEPRESSION IN TEENS
A low-cost, one-time
intervention that educates teens about the changeable nature of personality
traits may prevent an increase in depressive symptoms often seen during the
transition to high school, according to new research published in Clinical
Psychological Science, a journal of the
Association for Psychological Science.
These
findings are important, says psychological scientist and lead researcher David
Scott Yeager of the University of Texas at Austin, because so few interventions
have successfully prevented the onset of depressive symptoms among high
schoolers. But Yeager cautions that the intervention is not a "magic
bullet" for depression and requires further testing.
"We
were amazed that a brief exposure to the message that people can change, during
a key transition -- the first few weeks of high school -- could prevent
increases in symptoms of depression," says Yeager. "It doesn't come
close to solving the whole problem. Yet finding anything promising has the
potential to be important because prevention is far better than treatment --
not only for financial reasons but also because it avoids human
suffering."
Adolescence
is a challenging transitional period marked by puberty and also changes in
friendship networks and status hierarchy. Research suggests that many lifelong
cases of major depression emerge during this developmental period.
Yeager
and graduate student co-author Adriana Sum Miu of Emory University wondered whether
debunking the belief that social adversities are fixed and unchangeable might
ward off feelings of hopelessness and despair that can bloom into depression in
teens.
"When
teens are excluded or bullied it can be reasonable to wonder if they are 'losers'
or 'not likable,'" says Yeager. "We asked: Could teaching teens that
people can change reduce those thoughts? And if so could it even prevent
overall symptoms of depression?"
To
find out, Yeager and Miu conducted a longitudinal intervention study with about
600 ninth graders across three different high schools. In September, at the
beginning of the school year, students were randomly assigned to participate in
the treatment intervention or a similar control activity, though they were not
aware of the group assignment. Both activities took place during a normal class
period and required only paper or a computer. No one at the school knew the
messages or reinforced them.
Students
assigned to the treatment intervention read a passage describing how individuals'
personalities are subject to change. The passage emphasized that being bullied
is not the result of a fixed, personal deficiency, nor are bullies essentially
"bad" people. An article about brain plasticity and endorsements from
older students accompanied the passage. After reading the materials, the
students were asked to write their own narrative about how personalities can
change, to be shared with future ninth graders.
Students
in the control group read a passage that focused on the malleability of trait
not related to personality: athletic ability.
A
follow-up 9 months later in May showed that rates of clinically significant
depressive symptoms rose by roughly 39% among students in the control group, in
line with previous research on depression in adolescence.
Students
who learned about the malleability of personality, on the other hand, showed no
such increase in depressive symptoms, even if they were bullied. The data
revealed that the intervention specifically affected depressive symptoms of
negative mood, feelings of ineffectiveness, and low self-esteem.
These
findings are especially promising given the relatively small investment of time
and effort required to carry out the intervention -- but Yeager cautions that
these results raise many new questions:
"The
findings replicate in three independent samples, but we know almost nothing
about the boundary conditions of these effects or whether they will continue to
show up in future studies," says Yeager. "For example, will this
intervention work equally well for all students? What symptoms are most
affected or least affected? Are there any negative side-effects? We think
timing really matters -- will the intervention work even just a few months
later in freshman year? Could you do it one-on-one in clinical practice? We
don't have good answers to these questions yet."
Comments
Post a Comment