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

Chapter II: Literature Review
Adolescents' approach-oriented coping such as thinking about own need to talk to
someone when depressed in relation to talking to someone when feeling depressed can play a
critical role in early detection of depression and may deepen our understanding of their coping
styles. Adolescents' self-recognition of depression, thinking about own need to talk to someone
when depressed, and choosing to talk to someone can be inextricably linked with their social-
cognitive development, their experiences of social interactions, and their understanding of their
own vulnerabilities that predispose them to the early onset of depression. Exploring these issues
may prove critical in paving the way to greater insight into their coping capacities at an early
phase of depressive symptomatology.
Precursors to the Development of Depressive Symptomatology
Introduction
Competence in communication depends upon the capacity and ability to decipher
emotion signals (Schultz, Barr, & Selman, 2001; Terwogt & Stegge, 2001) which are susceptible
to emotional reactions. Presently, we know little about the mechanisms and differentiations in
social and emotional development that underlie depressive symptomatology in adolescents, and
in the differentiations in their social and emotional development. This may be due to
discrepancies in emotional understanding, or perhaps, social and emotional development are
precursors to the development of depressive symptomatology. This section reviews the literature
on social and emotional mechanisms that may be important to the development of depressive
symptomatology in adolescents.
The Development of Social Perspective Coordination: Its Link to Adaptive Social Functioning
and to Depressive Symptomatology
The DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) uses general impairment in functioning, including deficits
in social functioning, as a criterion in assessing and diagnosing depression. Studies on social
adaptive patterns indicate that deficits in social functioning can predict psychopathology in
adolescence and adulthood (Cowan, Pederson, Babigian, Isso, & Tost, 1973; Schultz & Selman,
2004). Mature and competent interpersonal understanding is attained by developing a
coordinated social perspective that stems from the ability to differentiate and integrate the
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