A COGNITIVE-INTERPERSONAL APPROACH TO DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN PREADOLESCENT CHILDREN

Cognitive and interpersonal aspects of depressive symptoms were invest igated in a community sample of children. Eighty-one 8- to 12-year-old s completed scales assessing cognitive representations of social relat ionships and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Teachers provided rat ings of peer rejection. Children with elevated levels of depressive sy mptoms displayed increased negativity in their beliefs about self, fam ily, and peers, as well as distinct patterns of interpersonal informat ion processing. Anxiety symptoms did not make a unique contribution be yond depression to negative representations of family and peers; in co ntrast, symptom-specific profiles of self-representations were found. Structural equation analysis supported a model linking negative interp ersonal representations, peer rejection, and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that future studies may benefit from approaches that incorporate both cognitive and interpersonal variables as predictors o f child depression.