how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...

Chapter V: Discussion
Because adolescents were asked to define "depression" and not "clinical or threshold"
depression, their COAD encompassed a holistic approach to describing depression. The
categories and subcategories generated in this study echo research findings that point to
dimensional (Goldberg, 2000; Slade & Andrews, 2005), categorical DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000),
and new constructs (e.g., Inner Pain). This finding may also reflect depressive symptomatology
of a MDE, where the condition can develop over weeks and may last for weeks to months before
the onset of a full MDE episode (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000).
The constructs based on adolescents' COAD included appearances, behaviors,
cognitions, emotions, social relationships, and abstract states that seem to be informed by
Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Piaget suggests that children attain objectivity when
they become aware of their own subjectivity, and once this relationship is properly understood,
they can apply this knowledge to relations existing between entities and the environment
(Chapman, 1988).
Grade Distribution of COAD Units
Generation, Distribution, and Range of COAD Units
In documenting grade differences in generated frequencies of adolescents' conceptions of
depression, although the 8 th graders provided more COAD units than the 11 th graders, the 8 th
graders provided a narrower range of COAD units than the 11 th graders representing the different
constructs. This wider range generated by grade 11 participants underscores findings from
previous literature and from Piaget's fourth and final formal-operational stage (adolescence to
adulthood) of development. Conceptions, or the number of possible meanings, can vary from
younger to older adolescents (Chapman, 1988). At this higher equilibrated stage, the ability to
coordinate more perspectives or possible solutions (Chapman, 1988; Noam et al., 1995), or
coping strategies expand.
The older students' wider range of different conceptions can also be explained by
findings from a study on 483 fifth to ninth graders (ages 9 to 15) by Larson and Ham (1993).
These researchers reported that older students, both boys and girls, encountered more negative
life events than younger ones, and that experience was more strongly associated with daily
negative affect among these older students, indicating that older students experienced and
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