Depression in pediatric chronic illness - A diathesis-stress model

Depression in pediatric chronic illness has been receiving increasing atten tion in recent years. Studies to date have typically focused on characteris tics of illness as the major determinants of the development of depression, but characteristics of the child have received less attention. This review suggests that a diathesis-stress model can be a fruitful heuristic that wo uld incorporate illness characteristics and attributes of the child and env ironmental effects in an overall framework to guide future research and tre atment.