BALTIMORE – Highly sensitive teenage girls are more likely to develop depression in response to romantic stress, Shannon E. Daley, Ph.D., said at a meeting sponsored by the Society for Research on Adolescence.
In this longitudinal study, 87 girls were studied using questionnaires and telephone interviews; 21% were African American, and 79% were Hispanic. Data were collected 6 months apart, and the measuring tools used were the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure, the Chronic Strain Interview, and the Episodic Stress Interview.
Participants, who were 16 years old, were questioned about romantic life events, and their lifetime history of unipolar depression was evaluated at the start of the study. Chronic romantic stress was assessed over the 6-month follow-up period, along with any more depressive symptoms, Dr. Daley, of the University of Southern California, said in an interview.
Through logistic regression analyses, Dr. Daley and her colleague at the university, doctoral candidate Christie J. Rizzo, determined that interpersonal sensitivity moderated the relationship between episodic and chronic romantic stress and clinical depression.
“Girls who experience a heightened sensitivity to interpersonal processes are especially likely to become depressed when confronted with romantic stress or low-quality romantic relationships,” they said.